Artemis Fowl: And The Raven's Prophecies
by obsessivecompulsivehobbit
Summary: See inside for full summary...
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I own barely any of this story, practically all of the credit must go to Eoin Colfer, who is the genius behind Artemis Fowl.

**Summary:**…Okay I fibbed a little…I don't really have a summary for this story…but I got you inside didn't I? Doesn't that count for something? At least stay and read it now that you're here..._nudges arm_…please...

**Authoresses Note:** Hey…at my lack of patience I have decided to post a little early, in what I like to call a trail run. Though those of you who read this the first time it was posted, I have made a few slight adjustments to the story, but don't worry it that doesn't overly affect the plot. And I have split the chapter as you may have also noticed. I had to replace the whole story because I couldn't edit my chapter at all, and the fact that it wasn't posted properly on the site bugged me to no end. I am still a bit annoyed at the way its turning out, the site wont allow me to use non language relevant keyboard characters to seperate my paragraphs and switch between characters. But i hope you all will bare with me...

All types of reviews are welcome including flames, so in accordance to FanFiction's Writers Etiquette, I will take it all as constructive criticism, but if I really, really don't like what you have to say, be sure of verbal retaliation (just not at this site). For I'm still unsure how well I can take said criticism. My head has become a little swelled with all the compliments I've gotten from the peopled I've allowed to read this before hand.

So please be nice, and leave your email address at the end of your review so I can send a more personal reply back. But enough of my ramblings, read!

**-,- **

Artemis Fowl: And The Raven's Prophecies  
Chapter 1: In Which Beginnings End and Begin Again

Raven sat in the back row of her physics class, bored almost to the point of falling asleep. _'Why doesn't mum give this school any advanced classes? I finished this book before I was eleven. And this teacher is so incompetent, I bet he got his degree at Community College, I highly doubt he even** knows **what he's teaching, let alone understand it enough to do so. I could do a better job, but what's the point when she wont to pay me?**'**_ she huffed as she thought and scrutinised Oliver Rogers' big thick two dollar glasses and patched tweed blazer. _'I wonder if he speaks like that so we won't notice that he isn't teaching us anything? Maybe I can get her to hire someone else to teach instead,' _she tilted her head to one side and watched him so intently that he became uncomfortable enough to turned away. Raven smirked. He was such an easy target and she wasn't the only one to think so.

Just as soon as he turned away, her friend Nick Whitman put up his hand and asked him to explain _string theory_, a question he so obviously didn't know the answer to. She watched him stutter trying feverishly to figure it out, she could even see Nick smirking from where she was sitting. But her gloating was cut short. She suddenly felt the hairs on the back of her neck spike up and got the cold clammy feeling that always associated with a vision. _'What!' _She thoughtwildly, '_Why is one coming now! Oh…I don't feel so good,' s_he started to shiver and knew subconsciously bad news was coming.

As if on cue, the door to their lecture room opened slowly and in came a very depressed looking Miss Adelaide Honey. Raven didn't think it was even physically possible because of all the plastic surgery that made it seem impossible to frown, plastic surgery that her family mostly paid for.

_Family? Why did that word feel so odd?_

Added to her always sunny disposition, this made a very odd picture. She saw two policemen stand in the doorway as Miss Honey made her way towards Mr Rogers, causing Ravens feelings of dread and dizziness to increase.

Mr. Rogers began stuttering for no reason; he always got like this, when within close proximities to Miss Honey. He even managed to knock off his little atomic structure on his desk, causing blue and red balls to scatter across the floor. The class broke into quiet sniggers, which Miss Honey chose to ignore, "I need to speak to Patricia Grayson please," she asked.

The whispers of her name, reached Raven before the shaky point of Mr Rogers finger. Her shivering had increase to shaking and she stood up from her seat, her eyes changed colour and went black as they always did when she was either having a vision or feeling a strong emotion, usually anger. They slipped in and out of focus and she managed to stubble down the stairs, missing the last two steps completely, to Miss Honey who was waiting for her back in the doorway. She closed the door behind them and Raven stood in front of the three adults waiting, for more then the reason they pulled her out of class.

"Miss Grayson, we have some bad news for you," started one of the policemen.

"It's about your parents," said the other and Raven could almost feel the world slow down.

"Oh Patricia, they've been in a _terrible_ plane crash!" Miss Honey wailed emphasizing the word terrible, as if the sentence wasn't bad enough without it. But as soon as the words were out of her mouth the world stopped completely for Raven and the sounds of Miss Honey's wailing distorted till they couldn't be heard. The news managed to sink in just before her vision came, breaking her heart neatly into three, making a sound like tinkling china that only she could hear.

The images came more quickly than usual, making them extremely hard to follow, but the ones she saw haunted her. Fire. Fire was first and foremost, everything she saw was covered in flames. People, furniture and things burnt beyond recognition. She eventually convinced herself that she felt the flames on her and swatted at herself as she tried to put out the flames around her. She then stumbled upon one of her parents and the images slowed down enough to let her see them mouth, "We love you Patricia!" It was the last straw, her brain couldn't take it anymore, her visions were a stretch before and they were not that big. Ravens eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed.

**--,--**

In the shadows of an alleyway, in a bustling market place, hundreds of miles away, a mans eyes opened, lips cracking into a feral smile. "The wheels of time are turning. Things are finally in motion." He stood up slowly, his form shifting slightly under his baggy robe, making him appear much taller then he was before. "It is time."

**--,--**

Raven awoke what felt like seconds later, in a blindingly white room, that yet seemed to glow a very soft gold, still dressed in her school uniform. She rose to her feet and found that she felt great, no massive headache from her vision, no bumps from hitting the ground, nothing.

Once her eyes had adjusted Raven saw that she wasn't in a room, but in a tunnel. As she walked a few feet ahead she noticed that her feet sunk slightly into the ground she was walking on. Raven bent down and scooped up a handful of what she was walking on and nearly screamed when she realised it was cloud. _'I'm dead!'_ She thought and felt a fainting fit coming on.

"Oh, Patricia darling there's no need for that," This snapped her back faster than a gunshot.

"Mum?" She said slowly as if not daring to believe it.

"Who else would it be darling?" Her mother said and laughed. Ignoring completely the unstable cloud she was on, she sprinted towards her mother and saw her father come and stand there too, which only increased her speed. She saw her mother with her honey blonde hair falling freely, instead of the usual bun it was in making her pale icy blue eyes stand out. She was dressed in her favourite pin stripe suit and smiled encouragingly at her. Her father on the other hand was dressed in the way he liked best, ¾ shorts and a baggy t-shirt, his black hair tousled and his vivid green eyes smiling at her.

Raven was there within seconds and was about to close the gap between them but then took a step back instead and her eyes flashed black angrily. "What's wrong sweetie?" Her father asked suddenly concerned. Looking at them again, Ravens' eyes switched back to their original colours and welled up with tears,

"How could you die?" She managed to blurt out, "How could you?!"

"It wasn't something we could help darling, you must realise that," her mother said sighing.

"Just remember we love you very much, we have soo much to tell you and not much time to say it in you don't have much time left up here," It took her a little more time to process this,

"But daddy I'm dead, I'm here with you and mum forever…aren't I?" She added the last bit in when she saw the looks on their faces.

"Oh no darling, you have a job to do down there," her mother replied, smiling secretly.

"You have much more time before you come back...but I'm sorry to say our time is up here now,"

"Up? How can time be up? I haven't been here for very long." With that she flung herself at her parents and hugged them, "Daddy I don't wanna go! Mummy I wanna stay here with you! What job? I don't have a job! I don't wanna work!"

That was all Raven could say before she felt strong arms wrap around her waist and start pulling her back. Raven fought tooth and nail against the arms that grabbed her and when she finally gave up she stretched her hand out hoping her parents would grab it and pull her back to them but they only stood there waving at her until they became mere dots to her. Then her pulley switched from first gear to sixth in no time flat and she took a big breath in as she began to fall into the blinding whiteness.

**-,-**

As with all near death experiences and experiences of death, you can never remember what truly happened, as was the case with Raven. Her back arched, throwing her chest into the air with what felt like her first new breath in hours and the first immediate feeling she felt was pain, which instantly destroyed any chance of remembering the meeting she had with her parents.

Raven coughed from her breath and a few flecks of blood dropped onto the sterile white bed she was on. Her head felt like it was slowly being pulled apart and even her chest ached from her sudden coughing fit. It alerted everyone in the room to her return to consciousness, though she didn't notice them. She lay back down and wriggled around a bit, blinking furiously trying to get her eyes back into focus and trying frantically to figure out where she was and what was going on. Raven got her memory back soon enough, up to when she collapsed, in a blast of images and she was shocked into silence.

Her parents were dead, need she say more?

"Hello Miss Grayson, you gave us all quite a scare there," she relaxed instantly at the soothing voice of the school nurse and private doctor to her Mrs. Shirley Bitters, who was the exact polar opposite of her name. Her eyesight returned and she saw a small group of people gathered around the bed she was on.

Mr Rickman stared at her pointedly as if just being here was a waste of his time. He was widely known for being extremely cheap, rude, mean, nasty, highly unkind and very untrustworthy, if you get my drift, which made you wonder about the sanity of Ravens mother who kept him staffed as her Vice Principal and their History teacher. It was also said that her kind heart for things like that would be her downfall but now that Danielle Grayson was no longer Headmistress and Mr Rickman was, it would now be the school's downfall.

Next to him stood Miss Honey who had calmed down considerably from the last time Raven saw her, but huddled close to who she saw were three of her four best friends, Eden McPherson, who they loving called Ed had unusual amethyst coloured eyes and straight black hair, she had tanned skin and was the same height as Raven and the same age, both 16 and both the youngest. Appearance wise, she had a great body, but was blind to realise it. She could only be described as most likely to succeed. The girl was naturally great at anything intellectual she, well put her mind to, meaning she could go anywhere do anything and pretty much live anyway she wanted to.

Azlyn St James was 17 and had dirty blonde hair that naturally made open ringlets and baby blue eyes, had creamy white skin and the body of a supermodel and was only just taller then Raven an Ed. She was the drama queen in their little group of friends. Well considering she wanted to get into acting as soon as she finished high school, it was kind of like her job to practise and boy did she have the ego down already.

Aidan was the lovable jock; he was the tallest of them all and the oldest at 18. He was quite stocky, built for football and he did play…occasionally. Occasionally because at a school of intellectuals being knocked around isn't high on their things to do list.

Aidan had brown hair, plain but pretty brown eyes and "the body of a god!" quoted by a less then pleasant person; he tragically had a rendezvous with.

And Conner Holloway who was also 17, had special leave to return on Wednesday, was the class clown. No matter where he went he would light up a room and when he was at work he never failed. He had beautiful intense stormy grey eyes, had spiked up black hair and lucky had no encounters with the class shank to his name. He was quite lithe compared to Aidan and was just a little shorter but looks are usually always deceiving because he could pack quite a punch given half the chance.

He also like Ed could do anything he wanted, but chose to squander his talents, preferring to suspend his time as a teenager and live vicariously. Something he was succeeding in very well…why do you think he had special leave…_coughs_ ...Suspension.

Miss Honey though, still looked as if she was about to breakdown any second, that or throw the group of them at the wall. Her female friends gave each other frightened looks, worried about what the emotionally unbalanced receptionist was about to do to them. Aidan managed to keep his face even. Being hugged by Miss Honey was something that he would, in any other situation, be joyous about, but even _he_ knew that now was inappropriate; their friend had just been told traumatic news and had collapsed unexpectedly for no medically explainable reason. It wasn't the time to be swooning over the very pretty, no beautiful, gorgeous even, delicate, graceful…_clears throat_… Miss Honey.

The last of the gathered was Mrs Bitters, who began checking her over. "Sorry," Raven eventually said without feeling and Mrs Bitters carried on,

"Hmm…well we _were_ going to take you to the hospital after you collapsed, but Mr Rickman, _who doesn't have a medical degree_," she emphasized staring at him, who still managed looked unperturbed, "thought that you would be fine after some rest and luckily for him he was right," She smiled and stepped away, effectively telling the others of her clean bill of health and they gave out a long collective breath and Miss Honey let go of Azlyn, Ed and Aidan, who for the most part looked beyond relieved.

But Aidan who was enjoying being held frowned and got a swift kick from Ed to show for it. He then stopped and smiled at Raven and the three students ran and hugged her to which they received less than enthusiastic hugs back. Worried they stepped back as Mr Rickman cleared his throat, obvious, to the people that knew him he was about to make a less then pleasant statement.

"Enough dilly-dallying! There is no need to fawn over her; she isn't the Queen or any queen for that matter. I am a very busy man now, no, even more so then I was before, her mother has now left me with an impossible amount of work to do and I cannot stand around all day worrying whether her _child_, and I use that term loosely, is alright, which now there is no doubt, for she alone is fully rested." And after the said unpleasant statement, all in the room looked ready to protest but his next statement silenced them,

"I'm thinking cut backs," he changed tactics quickly, "we have far too many staff here doing nothing," he gained an odd glint in his eyes, "but that alas is a decision to be made later, a staff meeting soon perhaps. But for now I must give a message to Miss Grayson, then I can begin to clean up the mess that has been left to me," he sighed dramatically before continuing,

"While you were causing a scene about your parents death, some people, mainly me were actually doing work, for your benefit I might add, _'not to mention my own,'_ he thought,

"I spoke to your aunt and uncle, that live in England who seem willing enough to take you in, it is obvious they do not know what they are getting themselves into. They said they would be here on Friday to come pick you up, in their private jet, they just happened to mention," hardly able to keep his bitter contempt out of his voice, "So the school will house you, feed you and educate you until said time, when we will say our fond farewells to you _forever_! A small memorial will be held in our new auditorium on Wednesday and your possessions will be cleared out of your dormitory and sent to you, though I cannot guarantee the condition they will arrive in, so anything precious I suggest you carry with you." Menacingly he said, "Good day to you." And Mr Rickman exited the infirmary wearing a grin that would scare small children, leaving behind a wake of silence.

"May I leave now?" Raven asked in a dead voice.

"I don't see why not," Mrs Bitters started, a little startled by her calm voice, "But don't strain yourself too much, we wouldn't like a repeat of today now would we?" She didn't receive an answer. Raven got out of the bed and walked to the door, flanked by her friends and Miss Honey who stared nervously at her. They all walked silently for a while and eventually rounded a corner leading them unexpectedly to the Student Common Room.

"I'll leave you here then children, if Mr Rickman really is planning to have a staff meeting, and I shudder to think he is, he'll need my help to make sure the staff all actually arrive, its more then their jobs worth not to…actually it may just be their jobs worth,"

Giving a miniscule squeak she sped of down the hall and Azlyn, Ed and Aidan watched as she finally disappeared down the long corridor. When they turned around Raven had disappeared, but it wasn't hard to find where she went, the open common room door was clue number one, the silence in the otherwise noisy room was one and another was the fact that there was a huge parting down the centre allowing Raven access to one of the many long couches.

They saw her sitting down and Azlyn, Ed and Aidan pushed the people aside, who rushed to fill in the gap, as they made their way to Raven who stared blankly out the opposite window. The people they had passed were beginning to loose interest and began to carry on playing their games of pool and chess and even the T.V. that had been muted up till then, was turned onto full blast and music began to blear out everywhere, though they did keep their distance. Once they reached her they all sat down, Azlyn on her right and Aidan and Ed on her left. They sat awkwardly for minutes. Raven thinking sad depressing thoughts while the others wondered how to act around her. In the time Raven had thought, she had decided on something and it was that she was not going to kill herself, though the thought still nagged her, she had decided long ago that she would never meet her end that way, but Raven also decided that for now at least she wouldn't live either, which was very different from killing herself, she would be alive for the sake of being alive until her life found meaning again.

As if sensing her thoughts weren't miserable enough, the music on the T.V. suddenly stopped and a dull voice replaced the musically trained ones, someone had obviously sat on the remote and changed the channel. And the culprit which happened to be their friend Nick was about to change it back, but they realised it was the news and the people who wanted to watch it far out weighed the people who still wanted to listen to music.

"And in a tragic turn of events, there has been a _terrible_ plane crash," he too emphasizing the word, but then he couldn't be blamed, he was just reading what other people had written. "The time and cause cannot still be confirmed but we know that a 747 has crashed into the Atlantic Ocean and that the causalities are severe. Among the 350 presumed dead were its two pilots: "James Frank and Bobby "bob" Murphy."

The anchorman bowed his head slightly and two pictures, one of a man and woman, replaced the screen. It was captioned with their age, date of birth and city of origin. James Frank had come from Georgia and was 45 years old, born on March 1st.

"While Bob Murphy was considerably younger at 26 years of age she came from the big apple itself New York City and was going to have a birthday in exactly two months, on October the 25th.

"And also among the list of Dead or Missing, two people very well known to us have also been added. The bodies of _Christopher and Danielle Grayson _are yet to be found but the state of the vessel clearly shows no way to survive such a crash," the anchorman bowed his head again and continued to talk, the voice a little louder but more muffled came through the speakers, but everyone in the room was too transfixed with the news to even notice the daughter of said couple still sitting feet away.

Two pictures appeared on the screen, "Mrs Danielle Grayson, esteemed Headmistress to the coveted Grayson Academy - " But the rest of his words were cut out, Aidan held the remote control in his hands and the T.V sizzled from being recently turned off. The students seemed to snap out of their stupor and after a few side longed glances at Raven quietly continue their activity everyone pointedly ignored the T.V.

As soon as Aidan sat down he slipped his arm around Ravens shoulders a let her lean on him, her friends too acted at once. Azlyn and Ed each grabbed a hand and clamped it carefully but forcefully in their own, Azlyn's tears dripping softly on to it. Ravens eyes were wide and blank, her mind still filled her eyes with the pictures of her parents, but the words the anchorman spoke may as well have been Martian for all she understood of them. She was taking gently back to earth when Aidan slowly whispered in her ear:

"Just remember Raven we'll always be hear for you, even Conner who isn't here for you right now and doesn't exactly know what's going on because we all know he doesn't watch the news, but he will be here for you all the same…starting Wednesday," Aidan whispered ruining the perfect moment he had ironically created with his ramblings, which were loud enough to be heard by the girls who sniggered as little, but agreed with the sentiment nonetheless.

Raven snuggled into Aidan's shoulder and managed the smallest of smiles that could easily have been mistaken as a muscle spasm, despite her situation. Though she was miserable only moments ago, the image of her parents and the kind and loving words of her friends made her minutely happier, not enough so to let her live to the extent she did before, but enough to give her the strength to be alive with a little more encouragement. Sighing with the weight that had settled in her chest, she closed her eyes and drifted into peaceful dreamless sleep…well at least that's how it started.

**-,-**

Nightmares woke Raven with a start into pure darkness, her forehead damp with sweat. She hadn't suffered from them since the debacle in Hamburg when she was on a trip with her parents (but then again, that month was a little hazy, her parents never really wanted to talked about it). She didn't want to blink for fear she would see the images again. She patted the bed around her and even herself and found herself in pyjamas, looking for something to distract her. For many minutes she seriously considered screaming, fire had now become her enemy. It was all she could see when she closed her eyes for more then ten seconds, the vision of her parents death haunted her. She distracted herself with her surroundings, which she now realised was the dormitory she shared with Azlyn and Ed. One of them had probably changed her, but even thinking about that couldn't save her for long. Her eyes became heavy and soon her eyes were closed for more then just a second and the images came back.

Her nightmare started out so innocent, pleasantly so. She was hugging her parents, oddly dressed in her school uniform and they were smiling, eyes so full of love. But then flames erupted around them, yet they didn't seem worried. Raven could feel the flames lick at her and she could smell things burning, so clung to her parents even more. Than all of a sudden powerful arms wrapped around her, pulling her away from her family, bringing her through the flames that had now devoured them. And as she got pulled further back, the scene changed, bringing back actual images from her vision.

Snapping her eyes open, she let a single tear slip, before hurriedly wiping it away and brushing the curtains aside silently, she got out of her four poster bed. She felt then like she hadn't seen the room in a century, but knew just as well, that she would miss it immensely when she was gone, especially the carpet she was standing on that kept her feet from freezing on the cold wooden floorboards.

Raven stared about her pentagonal room, thinking packing would save as an excellent distraction. She then noticed that she actually possessed very few of the things in the room. All she had to herself was a chest of drawers, a desk and a bed, that really belonged to the school, and the contents of the aforementioned and desk and drawers, plus a few odds and ends that had found their way to her friends area of the room, like her hair brush or a pair of shoes.

She shuffled around the room for a while, looking through her drawers and desk, looking for things for her to pack but found none. Her clothes were something she would need for the rest of the week so she couldn't pack them. Her school books and laptop were also things she would need for God knows Rickman wouldn't ever let her off class just to hang around the school, so she resolved to go back to bed, even if it was just to sit and wait for her alarm, because she knew she didn't want to risk sleeping again.

The clock read 11:43pm as she silently climbed back into bed, she could hear very faint sobbing from Azlyn's bed, but decided against seeing her. Raven had her own problems. Other then that the room was deathly silent, which didn't exactly help Raven's 'don't go to sleep' policy. She sat herself rigidly in the corner of her bed, leaving a crack in her curtains large enough to view her clock. She was still counting down by the time the alarm rang at quarter to seven.

**-,-**

Breakfast was a quiet affair, for more then one reasons. One: Raven looked horrible, you could always tell when she didn't sleep well and now was obviously one of those times, so not wanting to draw too much attention they decidedly kept quiet about it, but she had an oddly scared look about her that made them worry all that much more. Reason two was that Azlyn was crying, more like sobbing, but enough so to know that you couldn't get a decent conversation out of her no matter how hard you tried, that and the fact that she had practically buried herself in Aidan made it difficult for him to talk as well, he was constantly trying to calm her down. Something he wasn't succeeding in very well. The third and final reason was because no one else was talking. Raven, Ed, Azlyn and Aidan sat down on the end of the very last long table, while everyone else in the school squashed on to the other three, but a few daring people, more like people who were there to late to acquire a seat on one of other tables, sat down on the furthest end to them, as if just sitting near her could make them orphans too. "Just ignore them," her friends repeated to Raven on occasional mouthfuls. Getting sick of it she replied loudly enough for all the people at the nearby table to hear:

"What's there to ignore though, hmm…?! I don't notice anything but the fact that no one in this school has a life, so they all decide to watch me eat! Ignore them, I should feel flattered! I bet I look fabulous!" she angrily shoved food in her mouth so forcefully she nearly started chocking.

"Ah excuse me?!" Ellie, i.e. the class shank, exaggerated as she stood up.

"You heard her," someone on the far side of the room said, but she seemed to zero in on the voice and bit out:

"Was I talking to you Whitman?"

"Shank!" Ed said distinctly before faking a cough, which after a slight pause to gauge Ellie's reaction, made to the whole hall burst into laughter. "I thank you," Ed bowed mockingly and everyone began to eat again, the tension lifting. Ellie continued to stand though and growled loudly in frustration and anger. "Err…someone get her a chew toy!" sending the school into more peals of laughter.

"Grrr!" She practically screamed, "I maybe a shank and a bitch-" she started, but was interrupted by more sniggers, "-but-!" she screamed until everyone had stopped and was looking at her, "At least…" she paused and looked around the room, loving the attention, "…at least, I'm not an orphan!" she ended in a dangerously low voice.

The gasp the followed could have sucked in all the oxygen in the room, had it not been a cavernous hall that had open windows. Raven bowed her head and she actually started shaking soft, which made it seem like she was crying, but she was far from that, she had bowed her head to hide the flush of pure rage and she was literally shaking with angry. _'How dare she!'_ Aidan quickly jumped up protectively and hid Raven from their views and the girls were speaking in low voices trying to calm her down.

But after the collective breath came the ever popular "Ohhhh……" that was so loud it seemed to call in the teachers. But what the students hadn't realised was that they had come in just after the first lot of laughter, the walls weren't as thick as everyone believed they were.

The words her friends were saying were lost to her, Raven was seeing red at that moment and all she wanted to do was destroy every part of Ellie she could get her hands on. But Mrs Bitter's statement snapped her out of her thoughts: "Miss Ellison, that was uncalled for!" She shrieked her usually soothing voice ragged with anger. Ellie paled at the site of the adults. Raven looked up also to see the entire faculty standing against the wall by the door that led directly to their private dinning area. All thoughts of pounding Ellie into miniscule pieces magically disappeared and for the first time she felt as if she was about to cry, but Raven would be damned if she did it, let alone in front of the whole school and because of something Ellie said.

"Well everybody's entitled to their opinion," Mr Rickman said nonchalantly gaining incredulous looks from all present. "And Miss Honey…I think I'll have that staff meeting, we're all already gathered hear and there's nothing going on here that we need to get involved with, the children can sort it out amongst themselves…so…hop to it!" While the staff silently trooped back into their dinning room, most with looks of impending doom, but all the students clearly saw Mr Rickman slip a wink to Ellie, who smiled smugly in reply.

This zinged Ravens mood-o-meter back to furious except that instead of seeing red she saw black, her eyes had changed colour and she was beyond livid. Her hand slid stealthily out of Ed's and she stood up, pushing past her bodyguard, Raven stalked towards Ellie. Her friends had rushed up to her by the time Raven reached Ellie, who hadn't even noticed that she had left her seat, too busy gloating to her two friends, her only two friends Trixy Night and Amber Willows, the two people she hadn't managed to alienate...yet.

Azlyn clung onto Aidan as Raven placed a hand delicately on Ellie's shoulder and the girl spun around. Oh how Raven would have loved to hit that smirking face, but on the walk over her anger had somehow quelled enough to allow her to see that destroying her face wouldn't be such a good idea, if she wanted food and shelter for the rest of the week, so decided on the next best thing.

"Oh- " Ellie started when she saw Raven, but her eyes shifted and she caught sight of Aidan. Pushing Raven aside roughly she stepped into the gap that she use to fill and was now face to face with Aidan. A position he hoped he would never have to be in again. "- Aidan," she practically purred, "how about, you and I meet up in my room tonight say -"

But she didn't get to finish her sentence. It was disgusting to say the least to watch Ellie throw herself at a guy whose body language said nothing short of 'you repulse me, get away'. Azlyn even managed a glare, albeit a watery one, smirking a bit as well to the fact that he had his arm around her and not Ellie. She noticed it and glared twice as hard in return, she even opened her mouth to comment.

"Don't finish that sentence or even begin it!" Raven finally cut in, sick of being ignored, this was her rampage! " Never speak to me or **_my_** friends ever again!" Raven said in a very low and dangerous voice.

"Or I'll- " Raven allowed herself a smirk, "make sure you never speak again!" Her now black eyes bored into Ellie's emphasizing the message…Ellie certainly was thick; she didn't seem to get it.

"**_I'll_** be happy when you leave," she said with a wave of her hand, dismissing the threat.

"Yeah, well **_I'll_** be happy when you die!" Raven stated clearly and the message finally sunk in. Raven turned with a flourish and exited the hall with her friends, leaving Ellie behind gawping like a guppy.

**-,-**

The rest if the day sped by in a flurry of whispers. Everyone in the school was still talking about the incident at breakfast and anyone who wasn't there, knew everything that had transpired in great detail by the end of the day. It took a while for Ravens' eyes to return to their normal colour. She was still seething by the time she reached her second period class. But by lunch her anger had subsided and she was enjoying the effect she had on Ellie with just a simple glance.

Some of their other friends had joined them for dinner and they all seemed to enjoy reliving the morning, which had frankly begun to bore Raven, but nonetheless she smirked at all the right moments, faking brilliantly to all that didn't really know her that she was enjoying the discussion. But her friends knew better, no one said anything out loud but they cast her worried glances, sharing a few themselves. Azlyn had been dry eyed since their History class, Mr Rickman sent her out of class more then once for disrupting, with her "loud" sobs. Eventually getting so aggravated that he sent her to the councillor.

"She'll think twice before speaking to you lot again!" Nick finished with a laugh. They had all finished dinner and desert and were waiting for the energy to go back to their dorm rooms.

"We'…ll," Aidan yawned, "I think I'm gonna go hit the sack, night guys," He yawned again and made his way out the door. Raven didn't bother speaking, she was too tired, she just got up and left. Her two friends shared a look before they followed her out. They all got into their pyjamas and went to bed without a word to each other. But as Raven started drifting to sleep, she again heard sobs from Azlyns bed, but she was too far-gone to really care.

**-,-**

Wednesday dawned black. Raven was hiding in the corner of her bed with her eyes wide open. Night terrors were stalking her, burning everything in their path. She slept for only a few hours before them came for her, her nightmare the same, as it was the night before. She again watched the clock, waiting for everyone else to awake. Her usually pretty face had dark bags and her eyes had lost their exuberant gleam. She seemed so hollow, so empty and that's exactly how she felt.

Storm clouds haunted the skies, but no rain fell. Even the weather seemed to be mirroring how Raven felt. Thunder and lighting stuck occasionally but still no rain fell.

Today was the day of the Memorial, so instead of donning the usual school uniform, they all dressed in black for the depressing occasion. Leaving their bags packed for afternoon classes, Azlyn, Ed and Raven walked sadly out of their dorm room to meet up with Aidan at his room. Aidan was dressed in a black tux and when they arrived, they quickly turned and headed towards the auditorium situated downstairs on the other side of school. No one commenting on Ravens appearance, she obviously hadn't slept…again.

Every student was going in their direction, each dressed in black. But when they saw her coming, they gave as wide a berth as they could; leaving a direct path to someone she had forgotten to expect.

Conner stood looking slightly lost in the sea of black, but when he saw Raven, Ed, Azlyn and Aidan, his expression changed. He smiled as he dropped his bag.

Raven had stopped thinking the second she saw him and within a spilt second of Conner dropping his bag she shot to him. Conner opened his arms to embrace Raven as she clasped him firmly around the middle, eyes streaming.

He was shocked for a few seconds before he wrapped his arms around her and said, "Shhh…shhh…baby, I knew you'd be happy to see me but not that happy, I'd have taken a shower, or at least have put some cologne on," This earned a muffled noise, somewhere between a laugh and a sob, followed by a sniff. Raven unburied her face from Conner T-Shirt and looked up at him, eyes still leaking and his happy face evaporated, as he looked into her face all he could see was an immense sadness and an emptiness, he knew was definitely not there when he left. "Don't cry baby," he whispered, wiping away tears, that continued to fall, "what's wrong? You know I was only joking,"

"I'm not crying!" she stated rubbing angrily at her face, trying to stem the flow of tears, though her voice did beg to differ. Azlyn, Ed and Aidan had joined Conner and Raven, looking grim yet happy to see him.

"I ask you to look after my Raven for less then a week and this is what I come back to…?" Even his friendly jibe earned nothing from his stone friends, except for Azlyn who wailed a bit before breaking down into tears.

"Who died?" Conner asked casually. Making everyone in the vicinity stop and stare at him. Even Raven and Azlyn stopped sniffling and Conner made the connection quicker then it would have been thought possible, though it was guess, he hoped for once he wasn't right. "Oh Raven, I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed, hugging her to him once again, to which she gratefully responded. He was right…damn!

They hugged for quite sometime, Conner whispering things in her ear that made more silent tears roll down her cheek, before Ed coughed quietly. The students' still coming to the Auditorium had thinned considerably.

"I'm really sorry to have to break up the moment, but we really have to get to the auditorium," Raven unburied her face and looked at her friends, before quickly wiping away the last of her tears and walking somewhat resolutely into the auditorium. Conner followed abandoning his bag altogether. Azlyn even had the gall to ask:

"Do I look alright?" but that was only to be expected, it was in her nature to be like that, empathic as she is.

"You look lovely," Aidan replied barely glancing at her, well he really didn't have to; she was always beautiful, even after she'd been crying. He turned his back to the hall and held out his hand, she didn't seem to be following.

Azlyn's mouth opened slightly in shock and her checks blushed a pretty pick. Aidan was turned towards her and from behind lights blared giving him an unearthly glow and Azlyn had never seen anything more beautiful, excluding herself of course.

New inexplicable feelings rushed at her and she seemed frozen. She was seeing Aidan in a whole new light that wasn't only the blinding ones that were coming from the auditorium, it was the kind that shines down on people, when you finally realise something about someone, that you seem to have magically missed, in all the years you've known them. And Azlyn really liked what she saw. Bowing her head to cover her blush, see took his hand and he gave her a reassuring squeeze and Azlyn felt her knees go weak.

**-,-**

The blinding white light that met her almost bought new tears to her eyes. Clasping Conner's hand firmly in her own, she walked into the light that seemed to follow her every move and emerged seconds later to find the whole school already seated.

Mr. Rickman was at the podium and what seemed like the press from all over the entire country behind them. "It seems that that the guest of honour and her friends have finally decided to grace us with their presence," he said his voice dripping with sarcasm, but he spoke into the microphone and he voice boomed out across the hall. He looked surprised for an instant before regaining his composure and saying, "I mean, your seats are in the front row,"

Eyes followed her as Raven, Conner, Aidan, Ed and Azlyn made their way to the front row. Conner looked around the stage and on Mr Rickman's right saw a picture of Ravens mother and father and squeezed Ravens hand a little more. He turned and looked at the others and caught Aidans' eyes, and mouthed, "Both her parents!" clearing sending the message that he should have been told. Aidan nodded grimly and Conner directed his gaze at Raven whose eyes had changed from her usual blue-green to black and she just stared angrily at Mr Rickman who seemed oblivious to her deadly glare.

After taking their seats in the front, Mr Rickman began his long-winded and extremely boastful speech, "We are gathered here today, in the Christopher Grayson Auditorium, to commemorate the lives of two very special people"…. Speaking to no one but the press and their cameras'. All Raven could do was bite her lip and ball up her fists to stop herself lashing out at the Headmaster. The morning seemed to drag on for Raven, her ears ringing from the falsities spilling out of Mr Rickman's mouth.

**-,-**

'_That's it!'_ Raven's sanity was lost. Mr. Rickman's words were poison and much as Raven had agreed against it, taking her own life seemed better then sitting there a second more, listening to the foul lies he told the nation. But even she knew that that wouldn't solve anything, she was never one for hurting herself, she had seen the effects it had on people, people close to her.

Though even so before she knew what she had done she found one of the many safety pins she had taken to hiding in the folds of her clothing, was in her hand slowly dripping droplets of blood, her mind numbing the pain that should obviously be there. Looking down she saw that there was more the one cut, _'how did I managed to do this to myself?'_ She questioned herself wildly. _'I didn't really mean any of the stuff I said'_. But she couldn't stop herself now, quick as lightning there where three new lines, each seeping blood from the wound. But none were fatal she was sure of that, as long as she stopped the flow of blood soon, she had managed to miss the main artery, slicing instead a little way above the artery shallowly, though a couple got dangerously close. _'Shit!'_

**-,-**

Mr. Rickman's Memorial was over. And the there were a few things that made the situation odd. Well one in particular and that was that Raven hadn't gotten up yet. Half the school must have left already but Raven was still sitting in the same place she had been, her grip on Conner hand much looser then it had been when they all walked in together. "Raven we can go now," he said slowly, guiding her up. She seemed to snap out of a daze, her eyes their normal colour if a little paler.

And that was another thing that should have instantly alerted him that something was wrong with his dearest friend. They all took steps toward the exit, Azlyn and Ed walking quickly almost reaching it. But Raven was the only one to stumble, her face nearly making contact with the hard floor, had it not been for Conner and Aidan who were waiting for her to catch up. "Argh," Aidan stated in disgust as Ravens wrist slid out of his grip, leaving behind a trail of a wet, sticky substance. "Is that blood?" he asked staring intensely between his hands and Raven's.

"Babe what have you done to yourself?" Conner asked softly. Gingerly picking up her wrist, making Raven wince. He looked somewhat angrily at her before scooping her up off the floor.

"Conner what are you doing?!" She protested, "Put me down! I can …" but her words trailed off. She had used a little too much energy and now she became dizzy. At her lack of words he looked down at her, concern evident, though anger not far behind. The look shattered Raven's already broken heart. She hated making him worry, Conner cared so much about her, Raven never wanted to hurt him. Slinging her good arm around his neck, Raven lifted her bleeding wrist and placed her palm on his cheek, causing blood to roll down her arm, pooling slightly at her elbow, making him turn his head towards her. "Please believe me," said softly, "I didn't mean to, it just happened. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to make you worry, I…I just…" tears sprang to her eyes, for once in her life, she just couldn't find the words. "I'm just so sorry…I'm sorry…so sorry…so…" she kept repeating them, leaning her head against his shoulder.

"I know babe…" Conner whispered once her words had died away and she was in sweet unconsciousness "…so am I."

**-,-**

Raven awoke groggily to a lot of yelling, most of which she couldn't make out, mainly due to the thumping in her head, but she had, had worse before, she vaguely wondered what had caused it. The events of the Memorial came back to her slowly, her face contorting, not believing how impossibly stupid her actions were.

One of her arms felt like lead…but she still didn't want to believe it. Lifting her good arm, which wasn't much lighter, she felt around her numb arm and soon came across a tightly wrapped bandage. Tentatively she pushed down on it and the first few prods achieved nothing but she came a little closer to her wrist and Raven felt pain in seconds. The shock to the system, one: sobered her up quickly and two made it painfully clear that she really had damaged herself. But the use of her name distracted Raven from her own thoughts; she craned her head as much as she could to listen better.

Even through a wavy glass sliding door, Raven could make out Conner's angry voice and this was a situation in itself, because Conner was ever the voice of reason, he was always the rational one. Even though he could knock anyone, one, Raven had only heard him raise his voice like this a few times in all the years she'd known him, he didn't really seem to believe in yelling, unless he was telling a particularly funny joke to a large group of people. Shouting in anger, he didn't agree with.

"Patricia's parents died!" Conner was the only person in history her age that had special permission to call her by her real name, but she didn't have to like it. But wow! Did what he say really bring it home.

Yet she didn't want to think about that now, she wanted to know why her friend was soo upset, but she was beginning to get a fair idea. "How could you not tell me?! No phone call, no text message, not even a fucking email!" Oh boy was he mad; Raven didn't know Conner to ever swear, or at least never in front of her. This was bad and guilt seemed to settle in her heart, she was causing him so much pain...

"And now I come back and look at her! Look at what she did to herself! I should have been there for her, I should have been **_here_ **for her and you fucking know it! You fucking know it!" His voice was softer now, dangerously quiet, though still held all it's original anger, if not more so.

"I can admit we should have told you," Came Aidan's resigned voice and she could tell she was hurting him too…all her friends most likely. These depressing thoughts distracted her from her original goal, but it bought fresh tears to her eyes, Raven would have thought she was all out by now.

"I can't stand to hear you guys arguing!" Came Eden's voice, though Raven could barely hear it, "I'm going to go check on her, Azlyn you coming?" Ed didn't need to ask, Azlyn was on her feet in seconds. She was completely dry-eyed and hadn't said a word since Conner came back, she most certainly wasn't herself and everyone could tell that.

Raven lowered her head as the door slid open quietly. Ed and Azlyn came in and found to wooden chairs to sit in. Ed sat with her head in her hands, elbows propped on her knees, one foot softly tapping on the floor, barely audible while Azlyn sat stock-still. The boys in the other room stopped speaking, it was a tense silence, Raven could sense it from were she was.

Ed abruptly got up and started pacing, small soft strides back and forth after a few steps. Raven could sense where she was at all times, her shoe made a squeaking noise when she turned to walk in the opposite direction, Raven wondered what she was thinking about.

The thought made her head turn, open eyed, she found herself looking straight into Azlyn's eyes. "She's awake," She stated flatly. Conveying only to her that she was more hurt then she let on, hurt beyond tears…and angry. More guilt ripped at her heart as the others stormed in. But they were pushed aside as Mrs Bitters came striding in, taking the place Conner had intended for himself.

"Look at me," she said and shinned a small light in her eyes, her tone was strict, harsh and professional, which was never how she operated. Every student in the school was like her child, some would even say she liked them better then her own daughter. She knew more about most of them then any of the councillors ever would.

"Do you hate me?" Raven asked abruptly. It was a broad question, intended for all, though after the initial silence only Mrs Bitters answered, her voice smooth and soft again.

"Of course not doll. We're only worried. You could have done some serious damage; you've been extremely lucky. Any more blood loss and you'd have been in an ambulance right now," Mrs Bitters flashed a weak smile; she was really getting too old for this. Teenagers and their hormones.

"You can't speak for all of us," Azlyn stated, her voice was barely above a whisper and it shock more then a little, "Because I for one hate you!" A single tear sliding down her cheek, which she hastily wiped away. "With all my heart and soul Patricia Grayson! How could you do it? How could you?" Her voice was quaking as she ran out of the room and everyone was too stunned to do go after her.

And Raven was defenceless against the looks they gave her; she had barely enough energy to move her arms, let alone anything else. There was a hole in her torso where her heart should have been. She broke down crying shamefully, the tears seemed to burn as they rolled down her cheeks. The guilt overwhelmed her, it gripped at her, making her suffocate under the pressure and she had nothing to hide her...to protect her.

"Why would Azlyn say something like that?" Aidan asked quietly to Conner. To which he took his time answering.

"Because…" he really didn't know how to put it, "…Because this is how her older sister died," Aidan made a soundless gasp, eyes widening. Azlyn never spoke of a sister, he never knew…but he made no further attempt to pry. Raven moaned softly, using all her energy to turn on to her good side, just as Ed moved round to the guys' side. Raven's legs felt oddly strong and after a few minutes bought her knees up, hugging them to her.

"Okay boys and girls, I think it's time you all went to class," Mrs Bitters stated firmly. She knew Raven well enough to know that the girl hated it when people saw her cry. It was something she had avoided doing in so many years.

After a few murmurs of protest Aidan and Ed left together, leaving Conner behind. They didn't bother waiting for him, because they knew that he wouldn't leave her, no matter what he was told. Ed felt a slight pang of jealousy, but drowned it in reason...Raven needed him.

"Mr Holloway I thought I told you to go to class," she said when she turned to get Raven a blanket.

"You did, but I've decided not to leave her alone," his tone final. And Mrs Bitters was shocked, never in her years, had anyone spoken to her like that. She was too stunned to threaten detention, but even if she wasn't, she wouldn't have done it. She knew Conner almost as long as she did Raven. He loved her with as much of his heart as it was sane to give and when he got an idea in his head, he stuck to it, especially when it concerned her.

"Then I guess there's no stopping you," she was surrendering, "just don't be too harsh, she's hurting a lot…more so then any of us. And she feels guilty, I can almost see it strangling her," she looked sadly at the girl huddled on the sterile white bed, "take care of her wont you?" It was a rhetorical question, the answer was clear for anyone to read. "I'll just go get her a blanket,"

Conner took quick quiet steps towards the seat that Azlyn had once occupied. Had Raven's eyes been open and not completely drenched with tears, she would have seen him watching her, his mixed emotions storming in the grey depths of his eyes.

Mrs Bitters returned moments later, a thin pale blue blanket in her hands. She unfolded it and placed it carefully on top of the shaking girl. Looking between them she noticed that they had a little…unfinished business, if the argument not long ago was any indication. So Mrs Bitters decided to leave the teenagers in peace, retreating into her office. If they needed her, for whatever reason, they'd know where she was. And as she walked, she vaguely wondered why they never worked out together…

**-,-**

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked softly, as her tears began to slowly subside. She had even managed to open her eyes. Her emotional anguish reflected there and Conner's great concern for her rose to the surface quick as anything.

"Didn't tell you they'd died?" she slowly spoke. He nodded. "I was soo tired, I must have forgotten," The statement should have stung and it did, but only on a few levels, Raven couldn't really be blamed, she really was a wreck when she didn't sleep properly, that was common knowledge. And the fact that she was grieving made it impossible to blame her.

Her tears had dried, leaving her eyes puffy and red, but she looked better then she had in a while, she really needed the rest. Looking around he spotted a tray with a jug of water and a glass. One of Mrs Bitter's first initial instructions was to make sure she drank a lot of water and with all the crying she had just been doing, she could empty a lake.

Rising, he walked over to the tray and bought it back to the small trolley that was stationed at her bedside.

Helping her prop herself against a few pillows, Conner took a glass a poured.

Bringing her knees up with her, Raven cradling her wrist against them. She grabbed the glass hungrily with her good hand, but couldn't stop her hand shaking, spilling more then a few drops. Conner sat down on the bed next to her and Raven drank three glasses of water before she managed to speak another word. She leaned her head against his chest, calming with his steadily beating heart, Conner wrapping his arms around her.

"I dream about them…" she whispered, "…they're more like nightmares. I can't sleep," Conner looked down at her and their eyes met, "It scares me Conner. I can't close my eyes for more then a few hours. Why do they haunt me?" Turning away she said,

"I wish I'd died now. I'm just causing people so much pain…by just being…alive…" Raven fought a huge urge to start crying again, but she had done enough of that already. Though the tears still stung behind her eyes.

"Never say that again! Never!" He spun her around, his voice frightening, though not very loud. "You can't believe it! I wont let you!" He clutched her to him. "I don't know how I could live without you," A tear rolled down her cheek and Raven knew for a fact, it wasn't hers, "I _couldn't_ live without you…"

Within that instant, Raven's heart felt mended. His love for her broke through her depression and gave her hope. But the feeling, slowly dwindled away, much as she tried to hold on to it. Things like this were never that easy. Her heart was now back to their original pieces and Raven deduced that it was the best it would probably ever be.

Conner released her enough to look at him directly. "I'm glad you're back," she said wiping away his stray tear. "I'm very glad you're here," deciding then and there that she was never going to make him cry again. She could probably live with the hate of her other friends, distressing as that would be. But never without Conner. She was glad she had someone on her side and she made a silent vow that she would never hurt him again.

**-,-**

They were soon forced to leave the infirmary. Mrs Bitters walked in and found Conner dozing on the bed, cuddled next to Raven who was wide-awake. Waking him up with a jolt she claimed that he was only staying because he wanted to take a nap (jet lags a bitch), when he really should be in class. She sent them both out because Conner still wanted to keep an eye on her and luckily for them History with Mr Rickman had begun only minutes before…the last class of they day with him…she pitted them.

However Mrs Bitters didn't let Raven leave without a hug, "This is the last I'll see of you for a while, I guess," she said, "My Amy's coming from college for a week or two, so I'm going back home. She wouldn't dream of staying here, says it reminds her of school too much," she chuckled affectionately and Raven smiled a little, she could see how that could be. "So good luck doll! I don't need to tell you to get better and never to pull something like this again," they hugged again and Conner watched the scene with slightly hooded eyes…there was something else she wasn't telling him.

He had already figured it out though. It was only to be expected. There really wasn't anything left for her here, besides her friends, but Rickman wouldn't see it like that.

In his words, "She'll make some more,"

But in any case, he wanted her to tell him. It wasn't very often he was found wrong about anything, unless of course he was going up against Raven, that was a lost cause for anyone. But he would gladly like to be proved wrong about this and he wanted the words to come out of her mouth.

Raven felt Conner's gaze on her as they walked towards their class. She was almost certain it was about what Mrs Bitters said. Conner was smart, he would figure it out. _So there would be no point in telling him what he already knows right?_ More to convince herself then anything else. Telling him would mean accepting the fact and she wasn't ready for that, 'deny it for as long as possible', that was her goal.

After climbing two extremely large staircases, Conner and Raven arrived at Mr Rickman's History Class. They hesitated a bit before biting the bullet and walking in. Conner coming in first, slightly shielding Raven from view.

"Take a seat Mr Holloway," he stated clearly from the board, he back to the class and the door. _Does he have eyes in the back of his head?_ Raven wondered idly, _"How did he know we -"_ but the thought stopped dead in her mind.

The whole class was staring at her, or in some cases glaring. As a nervous reaction she accidentally grabbed her bandaged wrist and clamped her fist around it. And the pain that emitted from it almost made her scream. She wasn't breaking any stitches because the cuts were shallow to need them, but even by touching them she was causing them to open again, and it hurt. Raven bit her lip to stop any sound escaping her and clenched her eyes shut until the pain subsided.

We she opened them again; Mr Rickman was inches from her face.

"Miss Grayson, certain people have been called and they were most disappointed to hear about this little…stunt," he sneered, barely loud enough for the people closest to them to hear.

Typical Mr Rickman thought she did this to get attention.

But then he unexpectedly turned on his heel and walked back towards the white board. Which Raven took as a sign to sit down, so made a b line to the empty seat in between Conner and Ed, and in front of a seat that should have been occupied, Azlyn clearly not present and clearly still mad. Her seat was filled by their friend Nick. But before she had even made it there, she heard Mr Rickman callout, so she turned and saw that he had an odd glint in his eyes. This couldn't be good for her.

"Oh. And Miss Grayson, please refrain from bleeding on my tables,"

**-,--,--,-**

**A/N:** Okay folks that's it. I know how hypocritical it is of me but I'm sorry for the out of character-ness, I like it better this way..._pouts childishly_...I'm sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes, I was never very good at that even with Word. So I hope you enjoyed reading it, and hope more that you review. All I ask for in return is 13 measly reviews and you get the next chapter, which I must admit is the only other one fully done. I'm starting to think chapter 3 needs a trim too... But you can only get the next chapter if you review, so get going!

Anyways thanks a bunch for managing to get this far,

- Amanda aka The Obsessive Compulsive Hobbit.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I own barely any of this story, practically all of the credit must go to Eoin Colfer, who is the genius behind Artemis Fowl.

**Authoresses Note:** Hello again everyone! There are not enough adjectives in the English language to express how much all your reviews mean to me. So from the very, very bottom of my heart, thank you, _thank you_, **_thank you_**!

And some of you guys haven't left your email addresses at the end of your reviews. Why on earth not? I love replying to them! So from now on please do, especially if you flame, at least give me a chance to defend my work, if you're going to criticise it.

Now that I'm typing this out, I've found how little I have to really say…So to conclude, I hope that I've made this chapter a little easier to read, though I know that the chapter and character breaks are hard to make out, but they were the best I could do, and I also hope you guys enjoy it as much as you seem to have enjoyed the first one. Oh yeah, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and all that jazz!!

So. Without further ado, here is chapter 2.

-,-

**Artemis Fowl: And The Raven's Prophecies**

**Chapter 2: In Which the Fowls are Introduced**

Raven was starved, she realised she hadn't eaten all day. Rumours were buzzing around the school by the time dinner was served and she knew exactly who had started them.

-,- Flashback -,-

"I can't believe how pathetic she is. Couldn't even manage to kill herself properly, how useless can a person get?" Ellie Ellison giggled form her position in front of Raven, in their History class earlier that day. Referring to Raven indirectly, obviously still abiding to the threat made the previous day.

"Oh wait…" she pretended to think, "…I can believe how pathetic she is!" At this the two other girls broke out into silent laughing fits, both beside themselves with evil mirth at something that wasn't even remotely funny. Making sidelong glances at Raven while they sniggered into their hands.

Mr Rickman took his time quietening them down. Usually stopping someone before they managed to fully finish their sentence. But he seemed to be enjoying the Raven bashing so let it continue until they had all stopped speaking to just laugh.

At this outrage Ravens eyes didn't even bother to hint a change. She was too tired to be angry and too tired of being angry to care what the little harpy thought of her. Though that didn't stop her from laughing when Conner tripped her up outside the doorway. She practically screamed bloody murder, but the look in Ravens eyes stopped her from saying a word. The threat still hung heavy in the air. So she picked up her bag and snorted superiorly before walking away…quickly.

-,- End Flashback -,-

"Why isn't Azlyn here?" Nick asked, catching sight of her across the hall, her angry look confusing him.

This bought Raven back to reality. She looked at Nick first before switching her view to Conner, Aidan and Ed. No one wanted to answer.

But Conner kept glancing back at her. "I'll see you guys later," he said soon after and left in search of Azlyn.

Nicks eyes followed the scene that went on and it continued to confuse him. Raven seemed almost angry at the fact that Conner had left to see Azlyn, but she dropped the look the instant she saw that he was watching her. Tilting the very corners of her lips up in a minuscule smile, she continued to play with her food, barely eating anything, her left hand hanging limply at her side.

And this was how it was. Until Conner came back to their table, while they were well into their desert, a teary eyed Azlyn a little distance behind him.

Raven looked past Conner and saw Azlyn standing a little way off. Hastily wiping away a few tears. Raven turned her gaze to Conner who smiled at her unasked question: "What's going on?"

Conner stepped aside, leaving Raven with a clear view of Azlyn.

Raven stood up and the two of them stood awkwardly in front of each other, neither knowing what to do or say, Raven more so then Azlyn. Then all of a sudden Azlyn launched herself at Raven, clinging on to her for what felt like dear life. "Oh Raven I'm soo sorry!" she wailed into the shorter girls shoulder, "I've been so selfish! It's just that I was soo upset about before, that all I could think about was Jay…(Jay being Azlyn's pet name for her sister)…" but she didn't finish, only lapsing into silence.

"No, no you haven't been selfish. If anything I have, it's mostly my fault," Raven consoled and after a few more minutes of Azlyn's tears, they both let go. Azlyn smiling, while Raven tired her best to return it. They had put pressure on her wrist when they were hugging and now it throbbed painfully.

"I think it's about time for us to go to bed," Conner ventured, a hint of something that only Raven noticed, but she couldn't place her finger on it…she looked at him out of the corner of her eye to see him watching her again. Looking somewhat seriously at her. Again she felt the feelings of guilt bubble up to the surface, but she forcefully pushed it down again, she had nothing to feel guilty about…

Raven changed and got into bed, with no intension of sleeping. Her friends were all yawning and getting comfortable, while Raven arranged herself rigidly to stop her from yawning and feeling comfortable. Keeping the curtain open slightly so she could keep an eye on the clock, she readied herself for the long haul; she would never see her parents like that again.

-,-

Raven noted it was just after midnight when she heard the door to their dorm room, creaked open. Ed moaned from her position and their silent stalker seemed to pause in their tracks. But after a few seconds she sighed contentedly and carried on sleeping.

Raven moved as soundlessly as she could from her corner of the bed to pretend that she was actually sleeping. Slipping under the covers just as the door creaked a bit more to prove that it was mainly closed. She pulled the covers as best she could under her chin, placing her hands down gently on either side of her on top of the duvet, then she closed her eyes and slowed down her breathing.

But after a few minutes it was plain that their intruder was after her. Raven's bed was the furthest away from the door and because they had been in their room for a while, it was easy to think that they could've seen her friends already. And if they really had, there would be some screaming, mostly from Azlyn.

Her curtains opened carefully and her intruder climbed softly onto her bed.

"I know you're awake," Conner's voice spoke in the dark.

"Why wouldn't I be, you know what I see," she retorted, turning away from him and opening her eyes, letting them adjust to the dark again. She didn't know why she was mad at him, but it was apparent she was.

"I know what's going on Raven. I just want to hear it from you," with that he shuffled up and used his knees to hold her hips in place as best he could with a duvet between them. And taking advantage of her distraction, he gently pulled up her arms and pinned hem by her head, taking special care with her bandaged arm. He leaned in close and whispered softly yet forcefully, "Tell me Raven, what's going to happen?"

Much as she tired to fight it more tears leaked out of her eyes. She didn't like the fact that it had been happening so often. She hardly ever cried and only ever once or twice in front of her friends. She felt it weak to cry and lately her eyes would start watering of their own free will and she despised it. "Tell me, I'll understand," he persisted.

"But I don'twant you to understand!" she whispered furiously, turning to face him, eyes dripping glistening tears onto her pillow, "I don't want this to be real! I don't want to believe it!"

Conner wasn't expecting this and his astonishment made him slacken his grip on her arms, which was enough for her to break free and swing her arms around his middle in the same movement. "I don't want to leave! I want to stay here with everyone! I don't want to moveConner! Please don't make me!" She sobbed into his chest.

Making what seemed like such a scene to herself and Conner, it seemed a miracle the others hadn't woken.

Conner was momentarily stunned. But only momentarily, he really hadn't expected such an outburst, but now he understood why she hadn't told him. She was very much in denial. But he forgot all that from the moment he slipped his arms around her lower back, offering as much comfort as he could.

"When do you leave?" he asked after a while.

"Friday," she sniffed.

"To your aunts and uncles I suppose?"

"Yeah, in their jet…when did they get a jet? The look she gave him made Conner laugh out loud, her look of utter perplex-ion was so cute. But then again it made him frown a little, jet…didn't that mean flying…?

"I don't know sweetie, but if we only have until Friday then we'll have to be together as much as possible, wont we?" he said releasing her so she could lie back down, except she chose to stay seated.

"Right…" she murmured, suddenly extremely tired, much as she tired to shake the feeling.

"Good, I'll start right now. It'll be too cold to walk all the way back to my room and it's already past midnight and you don't mind me sleeping here do you?" he asked taking advantage of her preoccupation.

"I…guess…not…" she said slowly, "But then again…I wont be sleeping," she replied turning away from him as he un-straddled her all in one motion. Raven slipping away into her corner.

Conner yawned as he took of his t-shirt and slipped under the covers she had previously occupied.

"Oh no you don't Raven, you're getting some sleep," he stated, "You look like crap,"

She laughed dryly, but began moving slowly towards him, she trusted him enough. He lay down and she did in turn beside him.

"Goodnight Patricia," he whispered in her ear before kissing her temple. The gesture making the waves of sleep wash over her…more like drown her. She didn't know if she could fight it.

"Humph…" she huffed, conscience enough to realise he called her by her real name and dislike it.

Conner fell asleep smirking and Raven soon followed.

-,-

Raven woke up warm and comfortable. Her mind blissfully blank. Glancing around she saw that she was leaning against something equally warm. The events of the night soon came back to her and she realised that she was leaning against Conner's chest, while he had his arms wrapped around her stomach holding her to him.

Their relationship was purely platonic which was why she had let happen what had; they did it quite often when they were younger. Raven used to have the worst fear of lightning, but being with Conner had chased it away, just like he did with her nightmare. So she smiled slightly as she snuggled into him.

"Humph…" he grumbled, hugging her a little tighter.

After a bit of wriggling and more grumbling from Conner, Raven managed to turn around and face him. "I have to wake up now don't I?" not bothering to open his eyes.

"I should say so, we do have classes, what's the time anyway?" Opening his eyes, he blinked them into focus. Using one arm he drew the curtains a little so that he could see the clock.

"Would you believe we're late from Rickman's class?" Raven started to laugh, but caught the seriousness in his voice. She shot around and sat up as she grabbed the alarm clock. She squeaked when she saw the time.

"We gotta go!" As soon as she threw off the covers, she stopped moving. It was freezing! During the night the school had been hit by a cold wave. "Too cold…!" Raven stated rubbing her legs back under the covers. She wondered if the rest of the school was covered in ice, it was _that_ cold!

"He'll be angrier if we don't show up at all, come on, just put on a scarf or something," Conner shook the duvet away and got out of bed. Even he couldn't deny it was cold, but he quickly picked up his shirt and put it on before saying: "Meet me outside Rickman's class. We may as well face the music together," and with a nod, he left.

Raven got out of bed and grabbed her uniform. Changing as quickly as she could, she messily pulled out a scarf and a beanie from her closet and put them on, slinging on her bag as she ran to class adding to her already untidy look.

They arrived at the same time, both out of breath. Conner opened the door and walked in with Raven in tow. The whole class turned to look at them as if expecting them, all the girls dressed in the same way Raven was, clad in scarves and beanies and gloves.

Mr Rickman turned slowly too, his eyes glinting maliciously. "So good of you two to join us," he mocked. "I can understand yesterday, but what have we been doing?" he chuckled evilly at his own lewd insinuations.

The class looked at them and could see why he thought that. Conner's hair was dishevelled, unlike his usual meticulously spiked hair. His blazer buttons were not done up properly, but then again he never usually did them up and he was stilling catching his breath.

Raven's shirt was buttoned at the wrong buttonhole just before her jumper. Her hair was also a mess underneath the beanie and she too was out of breath.

"Sorry we're late," they chorused, refusing to accept his explanation, even though it was a little true.

"No explanation?" he was thoroughly enjoying himself.

"We both slept in," Raven answered.

"What a coincidence, that both of you would happen to sleep in on the same day and turn up late to class at the same time - "

"We were sleeping together," Conner stated and that shut up Mr Rickman, "You know, one last fling for old times sake, she is leaving after all - "

"Detention Mr Holloway!" he bellowed, "And you shall serve it on this Friday, you may as well both take your seats." His tone was final and he returned to the board.

"But that's when she leaves!" Conner protested, all his cockiness evaporated.

"Well I hope this little stunt, lasts you till the next time you see each other, because you'll be in detention or in class for the whole day. You know the rules. Now get into your seats!" They obeyed instantly; they could only test his patience for so long before he snapped and they didn't want to be the reason he did. So they took their seats with their friends and class started again.

"Did…did you really…sleep together?" Ed asked, her voice strange and un-Ed-like.

"No, of course not," Raven dismissed and Ed visibly breathed in relief, but Raven chose to ignore it. "But we were in the same bed, the rest of the school can believe what they want,"

"Hey it was too cold to leave," Conner said in his own defence.

"Lazy," Azlyn muttered.

"But you gotta admit it was cold last night," he added. There were murmurs of agreement from their vicinity, until they caught Mr Rickman turning around to check on his class. Raven quickly took out her books and began talking down the notes he was writing on the board. But it was stuff she already knew. She really wasn't in the mood to be redoing the gulf war, but Mr Rickman's mood wasn't all too good either, so she sucked it up and began writing, it was gonna be a long day.

-,-

Lunch was the quietest it had been in a while. Except for the whispers that now eternally seemed to plague them, everyone seemed to eat in silence. Conner only half-heartedly tried to keep the rumours about them alive (he seemed to find it amusing). After a while he bide goodbye to Azlyn, Aidan, Ed and as one last gesture kissed Raven on the cheek and left the hall with no explanation as to where he was going.

Raven was completely dumbfounded as to why he was leaving, seeing as today was most likely the last day they were going to see each other for a very long time. "He better have a pretty good excuse for leaving," Azlyn exclaimed after he left.

And they continued to wonder that when they heard he hadn't turned up to his class. Seeing as Raven had physics then.

It was raining when Conner arrived late to class; Raven hadn't even expected him to turn up seeing as he wasn't present at the one just before. He was completely soaked and the teacher excused him to go and change, but when he returned he went straight to work and refused to speak to any of them, he seemed to be shivering slightly. But as soon as class ended he left again, dropping his bag off in his room and changing out of his uniform. He still didn't tell anyone where he was going, the guy seemed possessed.

Raven had gone to sleep that night expecting to sleep as peace fully as she did the night before, the gentle pitter-pattering of the rain lulling her to sleep. But there was no such luck. After only a few hours she was holed up in the corner of her bed, waiting…no, praying for morning. But as she sat there she seemed to notice that it was just that little bit harder to wake up.

She pushed the thought to the back of her mind and began to watch the clock. But when you want time to speed up it all most always does the opposite, so it seemed to strike the second slower until she could almost swear time had stopped.

Deciding against staying there alone, she slipped on a dressing gown and tip toed to the door. She heard a distinct giggle come from Azlyn's bed and she paused for a second. She heard a quick hushing sound and decided to let her be, Raven didn't really wanna know what was going on. So she hop footed it out of her room and made the journey she had all those many times over to Conner's dorm room.

She slipped into the room with practised ease and quickly found Conner's bed. The room seemed almost identical to Raven's excluding all the clothing on the floor and the piles of books all over the place. She mentally made a note to herself: "Make Conner clean his filthy room!"

Even being around his things made her forget her reason for coming. Conner was magical.

Raven began pulling the same ploy that had gotten him into her bed, only to find she couldn't, because - to put it simply - he wasn't there.

Not completely undeterred. She settled into his bed and decided to wait for him there.

Unbeknownst to her that she was ever so slowly slipping away from consciousness.

Conner arrived well after curfew. He was pretty much all water and was going to just go straight to bed and risk it; he was too tired to make a fuss. But when he parted his curtains; he saw a lump that should have been him.

Drawing more of it back, he saw blue-black hair spouting from under the duvet. He smiled minutely and thought the reason she was here, couldn't be good. So sighing he released the curtain in search of a towel and something warm to wear, he couldn't risk getting Raven sick. _'But where to put the box,'_ he thought.

So it was even later still when Conner finally managed to get into his own bed. His damp hair making water marks on his pillow. He took Raven into his arms and kissed her forehead gently, he didn't want to wake her now and instantly fell asleep.

-,-

Raven awoke missing something instantly, and that something was warm and seemed like it was there only moments before. It didn't help that she was dreading awakening.

She felt lethargic all of a sudden, but as she realised that she wasn't in her own bed she forced herself out Conner's and was just going to leave until her conscience took over. _'At least do something nice for him,' _Raven looked around the room. The only nice thing she could do was clean it and that was something even Raven wouldn't do, she barely wanted to touch it with her hands. _'How does he live like this?'_

'_You could make his bed?'_ the productive part of her brain answered and after Raven found nothing wrong with that, seeing as it was pretty much all done anyways, she set to work.

As she was moving a pillow she felt that it was wet and dropped it instantly. _'Ewww…dribble,'_ But the more she looked at it the bigger the splodge seemed to be. _"Still no one can dribble that much. I mean I don't even do it at all,"_ The little person in her head snorted.

So Raven deduced that it was probably just water…that didn't mean she still wanted to touch it any. But then like a bolt from the blue a thought struck her, _"…Conner…"_

It explained the wet patch and the warm feeling and…it explained…the…the lack of her nightmare, she realised and felt then a sudden urge to kiss him.

After putting on the final touches to her act of kindness she began to leave his room, she tripped on a pile of something she didn't want to think about and managed to stumble out into the corridor without causing damage to herself. She glowered a bit at the door before leaving.

Raven may have been relatively awake by then but not so much to take in loud noises, which she was when she was suddenly assaulted with a cheerfully voice.

"You must be Patricia?" She asked, "I'm glad I ran into you!"

"Yeah…" she answered, "Who's asking?" The irritating girl, who seemed barely older then Raven herself, giggled.

"I'm Mrs Bitters replacement silly," she replied as if it was the most ridiculous thing she had heard. She looked down at Raven and giggled at her appearance but took the protesting girl by the hand and led her to the infirmary, giggling as she did.

"So who are you?" Raven asked, now too tired to put up much of a fight.

"Silly," she giggled. _Was this girl ever serious?_ "I'm Natalie now come here, your dressing needs to be changed and quickly. You don't have much time do you?." She automatically seemed to switch from giggling schoolgirl to a true professional. The change shocked Raven but didn't comment, she was good. But what was she saying about the time…?

"They look better, they're healing nicely. You wont need this after today, they're shallow and will probably heal well before it has a chance to get infected," she flashed a smile, got out a little tube of anti bacterial cream and with it began to redress her. She also pulled out a black cotton bandage and Raven had to smile, Mrs Bitters knew her too well. "She said she thought you might like it,"

Natalie finished wrapping, tucking the last part into the rest and Raven could only just move her four fingers. It was stiff but not uncomfortable she so thanked Natalie, who also gave her about four extra rolls, all in black and sent her packing…literally. But that wasn't before a well-needed trip to the bathrooms.

Raven firstly went to her closet and pulled out all of her clothes. Upon finding a medium sized hand carrier she threw in most of her clothes including her uniform. She chose to keep a plain white polo shirt and her red and black tartan miniskirt to wear with her tall knee high black punk boots and fish net stockings.

She quickly packed her other essential items of clothing and her rolls of bandages before moving onto the other little things that would fit into her suitcase. She then decided to pack her laptop. It was one of those things she wouldn't dream of leaving behind. Her brand new sliver Sony VAIO (which was already in a state of disrepair) had her life on it, plus it came with its own carry case, which she carefully packed it into, with its extra batteries that were fully charged, her headphone/microphone and her web cam. Raven then packed a small handbag with her cell phone, wallet, some cosmetics and as much candy from her secret stash as would fit.

Seeing as how the day turned out to be much, much warmer then the last, she changed into her clothes and checked the black and silver Calvin Klein watch (A/N: yes she's a slave to designer labels) for the first time only to find that she hadn't much time left. It would have to be the quickest breakfast in recorded history if she wanted any food at all.

The kitchen staff were recovering from breakfast when she wandered into the hall. They happily served her with what may have been all the left over food. She tried hard to enjoy their company, but the weight of her leaving had really begun to settle in and as the seconds ticked on, she was closer and closer to leaving.

Raven did feel guilty though about not seeing them sooner. All the main chefs remembered her; they had even made her baby food. She smiled at them softly and at the memories, she had literally grown up in this school…but again she remembered she was running out of time. Bidding them farewell, more quickly then would be polite she left the kitchen to gather up her things and pretty much disappear.

Before Raven knew it, it was already 8:30 and it was time to leave (the morning felt longer then it was). Her hair was brushed straight and she had put on her black chocker with its silver rings. Her skirt had her wallet less wallet chain attached and she had put on her two black spiky bracelets, on the same wrist of course. No…that wasn't hard -_sarcasm_-

Raven put on some clear lip-gloss, black eye liner, waterproof mascara and some smoky eye shadow. With her handbag on her shoulder she attached her laptop to the top of her hand carrier and wheeled it out of her room and down the stairs to the main entrance. Where Mr. Rickman, Miss Honey, Azlyn and Aidan (who looked oddly smug together), Ed and to her happy disbelief Conner, were all waiting for her. One of them looking decidedly angry, _"I'm not late am I?"_

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"Why give me detention for one day when I can be there for a month instead - "

"Yes, yes well we haven't gotten all day do we?" Mr Rickman interrupted impatiently, "All right, all leaving get into the taxi, now!" With that Raven's friends all trooped into the taxi van, with Mr Rickman in the front next to the driver.

"I have to leave you here Patricia," Miss Honey said, "Keep in touch wont you?"

"Of course!"

"Hurry Up!" Mr Rickman called.

"Well goodbye then Patricia Grayson, I do hope we will meet again," She said quietly, eyes brimming with tears as she hugged Raven.

"If you don't get a move on I will leave without you and you can miss your plane!" he said leaning over the driver to honk the horn, cutting the moment short and pissing off the driver.

"You better go," she laughed.

"Take good care of my mother's school," Raven added in all seriousness, before reverting back to herself, "Goodbye Miss Honey, I'll miss you," she called as she ran towards the taxi, which was started instantly and by the time she was fully buckled in, they were already halfway down the long driveway leading away from the school and into town.

"How'd you sleep?" Conner smirked, Raven smiled in reply and following an old impulse she kissed him soundly on the cheek.

-,-

Airports were usually teeming with life, but this one was lacking a little in that department. The one they were in was obviously not used very frequently.

Raven looked around the big open space and even though she hadn't seen her aunt and uncle in a while, she recognised them instantly. It surprised everyone when she dropped her things and began running.

And she did bolt straight towards two people who were just standing in the middle of the room. She stopped just before a lady who even from that distance looked so much like Raven's mother…

Crying and very unsure Raven stopped before her aunt and waited for a reaction. "Oh Patricia," her aunt said and she jumped into her open arms. Her good arm slinging around her neck while her bad one sort of hung stiffly at her side.

"Aunty Em!" she sobbed.

"There, there darling," she cooed, pulling Raven away from her and wiping away a few tears, "It'll be ok," She then seemed to change personalities in a very odd way. "Your arm," she placed her palm out, expectantly.

Raven did so, but very reluctantly. She had a feeling her aunt would squeeze it and she wasn't disappointed. Pain shot through her arm and she had to close her eyes and mouth to stop any sound escaping, which at that point, would have been nothing short of ear splitting.

Her uncle sensed her discomfort in waves and he suddenly interrupt. "There's time for this later, we really should be on our way," he said releasing his wife's killer grip on the poor girls and arm and giving it back to the owner.

"Thank you Uncle Richard," she turned towards him, she always felt she needed to be polite to him.

"Now there's no need to be so formal…" he started and if there were any other words, they were lost on her.

"But I can't leave without saying goodbye," her voice was becoming frantic. She edged backwards.

"Oh go on," he aunt smiled. And before the words had finished leaving her mouth, Raven walked quickly back to where she left her friends with her luggage.

"You didn't think I was leaving without saying goodbye did you?" she asked.

"Not for a second," Azlyn said, eyes only slightly wet and she hugged her friend. "I'll miss you so much Raven, I love ya, you'll call right?"

"Of course! And I'll email and there's also MSN. It'll be like I never left," More to convince herself then the others.

"Give us a go," Ed said and Azlyn moved out of the way and Ed took her turn to hug her. "I love ya too, I'll miss you so much Raven, don't forget us when you go," She too was crying when they pulled apart. A sight that warmed her, Ed was strong, she never cried.

"Raven…" Aidan said as he lifted Raven up as he hugged her, making her squeak. He wasn't crying but she could tell he was sad; it would have worried her more if he was. Placing her on the ground gently, "There's no need for long goodbyes, I know I'll see you again," And with that Raven nodded before turning her sights to Conner, who was waiting patiently.

"Conner…"

"Patricia - " Conner started before she threw herself at him and hugged him with all her might. "Girl you'll crush me," she let out a muffled giggle. "Now before the water works come again," to this Raven huffed, "I have something for you," She released her killer grip on him and he fished out a small red box. "I wouldn't freak you out by getting down on one knee, funny as that would be," he smirked as she smiled. "But it is a ring,"

"Surprise killer," She muttered, as he opened the box to reveal a stunning silver ring. "It's beautiful," she said in complete awe. Picking it up, a beautiful silver chain she hadn't noticed before dropped gracefully out of the box.

"That's where I was yesterday," he added out of the blue, "I remembered the ring at lunch and left to check if it was finished yet, I've been working on it for a while now. But I left too late and wouldn't have had enough time to make it back there and back in time and even then I was late to class and soaking wet," he sniffed for emphasis, it was a little disgusting.

"So I went after classes and I found that it was finally finished, so I paid for it and bought it back, a gift that's sorta from all of us, but paid by me," he passed a meaningful glance at the others.

Raven looked at the ring more clearly and saw what he meant. Their names were written very carefully in there ring with a different silver that seemed to shine more then what the ring was made out of. Azlyn, Eden and Aidan were written on the top and when she looked on the inside of it, she saw 'Raven and Conner BFF'

"This must have cost a fortune, I can't except this!" Handing the ring back.

"It was less then you would think, I know the jeweller," He took the ring and opened the clasp on the chain. Spinning her around the other way, she lifted up her hair and he put the necklace on her.

"Group hug!" Aidan called and they all crushed together and well, crushed Raven in the middle.

"I'm going to be sick!" Mr Rickman muttered.

"Come along Patricia, we really must go," Her uncle said and she realised that they had come to join her.

"We have time for a quick introduction?" she ploughed on without waiting for an answer. "This is my Aunt and Uncle, Emma and Richard Carrington. Aunt Em, Uncle Richard, this is Azlyn, Eden, Aidan, Conner and Mr Rickman," Everyone quickly shock hands,

"We spoke on the phone," Mr Rickman said as he shook their hands.

The feeling of: This is all ending too soon, plagued Raven. But it sadly couldn't be helped, it was her turn to say goodbye.

"You guys all know I love you and how much I'll miss you, I'll call the instant I can! You all have my mobile number, you call me." Wiping away stray tears, she couldn't bare to hug them again, for fear of never letting go.

Before she could change her mind, she turned and walked with her new guardians towards the other side of the room, to big glass sliding doors. Very glad she thought ahead and wore waterproof mascara.

"You left school grounds without permission!" she heard Mr Rickman thunder, "Another month of detention! Boy, you will not breath fresh air for a long time!"

Raven grimaced slightly. But most thoughts went straight out of her head when she saw her means of transport. It was only then that she actually realised that she was going to be flying…in a plane. The way her…parents…

She began to lag behind and by the time she actually reached to plane and was boarding, she was very close to fainting. Not breathing for a while can do that to a girl.

"I know this may be a little difficult for you," her aunt said softly sensing her discomfort, "but it'll be okay. I promise," the quiet statement helped marginally. Enough so to notice they weren't alone.

"Hello…" Raven breathed, uncertainly.

"I guess it would help if we introduced ourselves," the man said politely.

"My name is Angeline Fowl," the woman said exuding grace and elegance, "and this is my husband Artemis,"

"How do you do Miss Grayson?" he asked, shaking her hand.

'_So formal,'_ she thought. And replied with a very common lie: "I'm fine thank you,"

Raven found a nice squishy armchair to sit it, with a great view out the window and had enough sense in her head to turn of her cell, while her uncle took her luggage and put it in an overhead compartment.

"We'll be leaving momentarily," a male voice sounded out over an intercom system. "I suggest you all buckle up tightly, we are on a tight schedule." And with that the engines started and everyone had found a seat and had fastened their seatbelt. Raven was already gripping the seat with enough force to start pulling the thing apart.

Within 20 minutes they were in the air and Raven hated it. She would opt for a cruise any day!

Her _breathing_ was so shallow she slipped between consciousnesses.

"Patricia are you alright?" he aunt asked as she glanced over at her. She was turning her head to signal that she most defiantly wasn't, but she looked out the window and saw miles of clouds rolling around underneath her and she felt a sudden, serious pang of deja voo, but after that she fainted delicately in her seat.

-,-

The absolute second Raven woke up, she missed Conner. _'Why is nothing ever easy for me?' _True the lightning thing had taken many…many nights to cure, but Raven was really hoping for a quick fix. And this one obviously hadn't work.

Her eyes fluttered open and she noticed it was late. The sun was hanging low on the horizon and the cabin lights were already on, but then again cabin lights were on during broad daylight as well. _"Hmmm…"_ she though distractedly. But shock her head to get rid of those thoughts.

She couldn't shake the feeling that it was much harder to wake. Sleep still tugged at her and it was much harder then it use to be to shake it off.

"Ahh…she lives," her uncle joked, bringing her out of her thoughts, "you've been asleep for hours. Are you feeling alright?"

Raven didn't trust herself to speak, so she shook her head slowly, she really didn't. She lifted up her own hand, placing her palm on her forehead. She could already feel it heating up.

"Would you like something to eat?" Artemis asked. To which she shook her head again. She would have liked to add a 'no thank you', but couldn't force the words out.

"Do you think we could get Juliet to come with us?" Emily asked Angeline. Both flicking through magazines.

"The last I heard she was still on tour," She answered, pointing out something she liked.

"What do you mean, 'come with us'?" Raven managed to choke out, she didn't understand why it was so hard to formulate a full sentence, but continued all the same, "What's going on?"

"You haven't told her?" Enquired Artemis.

"We haven't exactly had a chance," Her uncle said in defence, "We only spoke to the school twice and Patricia was unwell both time," Raven felt her cheeks heat up a bit and gently touched her bandaged wrist. It was getting better, it didn't hurt so much.

"Well there's no time like the present." Her aunt said, "Patricia, we can't take care of you," Raven's jaw dropped, she had definitely not expected that.

"At least not for a few months," Her uncle added in hopes of making it sound better but not seceding very well.

"Where…where…will I stay…?" she stammered out, her voice getting stronger. But panic started to settle too, she did **_not_** want to be homeless.

"That's the beauty of it. We wont be able to take care of you because we have a business trip that cannot be rescheduled. But the Fowls here have a son. And they have all kindly agreed to let you stay in their house in Dublin while we're all away." He replied.

"Well what are friends for," Artemis replied.

"He really needs to start associating with more children his own age," Angeline added sadly, "You'll be good for him. And we've gotten you a scholarship to his school as well, we have some connections there, we decided to take him out of St. Bartleby's…" she trailed off, they didn't really need hear this, "…Anyway school starts in about two weeks?" her husband nodded, "In two weeks, so you'll be pretty busy, you may not even notice were gone,"

"A house nearly all to myself," she said softly. Raven smiled genuinely for the first time in a while and began daydreaming about life without parental supervision. Her smile wavered more then a little, as the thought struck her that she would be living without that for the rest of her life…

But it was a thought she didn't want to dwell on, she concentrated on the things she would like to do, but thoughts of her parents drifted in. Her eyes glazed over as she thought, making it look like she was staring blankly at nothing. Tears rolled out of her eyes unchecked, it was like she was in a trance and she was forever fiddling with her necklace.

But the adults hadn't seemed to notice, they were discussing business and politics and places to buy expensive things.

-,-

Raven woke up suddenly as the sounds of the landing gear being released stirred her out of her comatose state; everything struck her as being overly loud it wasn't a shock that she was woken up.

She noticed the dawn sky was still vaguely littered with stars, but there was barely anything to see of the ground below, so she assumed they were somewhere in the country.

"Home…if only for a minute," Angeline sighed.

"We'll be landing shortly," said the voice of the pilot. As the plane descended, more of the landscape became clear. And she was right for the most part, except for the huge area of concrete set aside for landing planes, the rest was rolling countryside that looked lush and most probably green and beautiful.

The landing was smoother then most commercial flights she had been on and that didn't strike her as odd at all. The Fowls gave her the sense that they only had the best and expected nothing less.

Before Raven knew it, the plane had come to a complete stop and her things were being taken out of the overhead compartment.

--,--

Artemis Fowl the Second watched a small private jet land on a small private airstrip. He wasn't particularly looking forward to the consequences of a hasty decision. Which was something to worry about in itself, because Artemis Fowl the Second didn't make hasty decisions…ever.

"The new pilots good," he commented as the plane landed smoothly on the runway, his accent soft and clipped.

"Should I bring the car around?" Butler, his seven foot tall Eurasian manservant, asked from the drivers seat.

"If you must," he sighed as Butler drove the Bentley Arnage Red Label towards the newly landed plane and pulled up carefully a few feet away. When everyone was fully out of the plane, they seemed to naturally form an oddly straight line.

The one on the end caught Artemis's attention.

He watched her as Butler climbed out of the front seat and came around to open his door. He noticed that she began fidgeting with her skirt, which was thought of in the loosest sense of the word, the second she saw Butler and to that he smirked.

Butler had that effect on people.

Artemis stepped out of the car and continued to watch the girl with his calculating eyes. Of course he knew who she was but he didn't expect her to be quite so…deathly looking. He could see it through the make up; the girl did not look at all well.

Miss Patricia Grayson didn't have a criminal record of any sort, which made it all the more time consuming to find out about her, which he didn't appreciate by the way.

But as soon as he broke into her school records, he found out everything he needed to know about her, which was everything.

His look seemed to have tipped her off and she looked up at him with something like determination clearly visible in her blue and green depths. "Oh darling, must you always make such and entrance?" His mother asked with a laugh. This bought his attention to her and he hugged her earnestly. "It's so good to see you again. Your trip to Greece was nice I trust,"

"It was," he answered, his expression softened.

"I only wish we were staying longer, but business is business and we just couldn't get away. We must catch up, you and I, when we get back. I'm so tempted to come back early, I've never missed a birthday before; we'll go skiing maybe? I know the Alps wont be ready but we can find other ways of occupying our time. You wouldn't mind missing a few weeks of school," She smiled as she released him.

"I would like that," he replied with full sincerity, which was something he had been lacking of late. He could of snorted too, like he _needed_ to go to school. It was only a formality. A formality that continued to annoy him.

"Son," Artemis said and had his turn embracing him. It was a manly kind of hug, but even still the exchange panged something in Raven's heart and the hurt reverberated. She was never going to experience anything like this again. _"Will the hurt ever go away?"_

"Now let's stop neglecting our guest," Angeline said as she steered her son to Raven.

"This is our niece Patricia Grayson," her aunt introduced, more then a little unnecessarily, but then again she didn't know that.

"And this is our son Arty," Angeline added. She gave her son a look that seemed to be a regular for he extended his hand, but continued to send her a look that said this was below him.

Well that's what Raven mistook it for, he was just miffed that she used his pet name in front of her, but the below him thing, was definitely there.

Raven's eyes flashed black in annoyance and she gripped his hand a little more tightly then she meant to, but it didn't seem to make a difference.

He smirked superiorly at her…he looked like a vampire, but his mother seemed to take it as a good sign, for she smiled broadly, but it only irked Raven more and her eyes gained their black gleam. But this time it was different…

--,--

She got that cold clammy feeling and she had never gotten it from touch before. She breathed in deeply as she felt her knees become weak, her grip start to get loose and she began slipping backwards as she slowly lost herself in a vision. The last thing she remembered was someone catching her as she fell into darkness.

Her visions was more organised this time and much less painful. Though the pictures were not whole, she saw: big hazel eyes that blinked at her in surprise. It cut to a red mass of some sort that seemed to bubble out on its own. Her next one was of hooves that looked like they belonged to a horse or a donkey. But the last one she had hurt her more then she could understand.

Her view was filled with blue, but there where black dots that didn't seem to belong there. Her chest felt like it was being crushed slowly and she couldn't help but start struggling. And just as soon as it started, it ended. The pain in her chest eased, leaving behind a dull ache and after a few deep breaths her eye site returned to her.

"Ah she's awake! Patricia are you all right?! You just dropped and we didn't know why and you fell and we didn't know why and you were thrashing around and we didn't know why…" and her aunt continued to ramble like this until her uncle managed to shush her. The quiet making comprehension dawn on her. She looked uncomfortably at her husband, how were they going to explain this…

"Argh…" she moaned as she tried to sit up, hand firmly placed over her heart and a dull pumping in her head.

"It would be best if you lay down," a deep male voice sounded and she complied. She chanced a glance and saw it was the tall intimidating bald man. He seemed to be checking her pulse, and just at the sight of him, her heart race increased and her body tensed. The man noticed the increase and smirked a bit, "There's no need to be scared,"

Her face flushed embarrassment. Angry more at herself then the pale, suit clad Irish boy, who's eyes were boring into her, telling her without words that he thought her pathetic, weak and insignificant.

The man began to move around the bandage. But Raven lifted her other arm and placed it on his hand. Even if she was at her full strength she would still never have been able to push aside his arm, but the small gesture seemed to work, for he let go of her bandage.

"She's alright though, isn't she Butler? I'll call an ambulance or something, we should get her checked out," Angeline asked, she was starting to like the girl.

"No!" Raven's aunt burst out. Causing everyone to stop and stare. "There wont be need for that," she looked to Raven for backup. "Your fine, aren't you darling?"

Despite the violent urge to be sick Raven nodded her head.

"Are you sure you don't want us to send her to see someone?" Artemis asked, not quiet satisfied.

"It's a…family…condition," her uncle answered, "She'll be fine," Eying her carefully, Artemis finally agreed.

"We are running late. Butler, just make sure the young lady gets help, if this happens again,"

"Yes sir," he replied, "have a safe trip," Artemis smiled and answered with a laugh,

"Make sure Arty stays out of trouble," The manservant cracked one of his rare smiles and nodded.

"Good! Well adieu Arty darling, we must be off," His mother hugged him once more and he seemed content, she kissed his cheek, which she promptly wiped, having left a small lipstick stain that her son would not enjoy at all. _Pang…_

"Yes Patricia, I wish this was a better way to begin," Her aunt looked sad and had a slightly far off look in her eyes, so her uncle continued.

"When we come back, we'll show you your real home. How does that sound? Hmm…"

"It sounds lovely thank you," And they hugged. It wasn't as awkward as she thought it would be, it most certainly wasn't the same, but it was something she could get use to.

"Shall we go then?"

Raven watched from a rolled down window at the gate to the private airstrip, her aunt and uncle fly away until they became nothing more then blinking dots in a starry sky.

"Home Butler,"

-,-

Raven and Artemis chose to spend the ride in silence. It didn't take too long for them to reach the Manor and Raven's jaw dropped at the sight.

To put it simply, it was huge.

Raven turned her head and saw Arty watching her with another one of his vampire smirks.

This shut Raven's mouth. She knew the guy for less then 24 hours and she already hated everything about him. Not that she knew much about him.

More like his pet name, or at least what she hoped was his pet name. To actually be named Arty, now that would be sad. And his smirk…she had seen it too many times already.

And what he did when he touched her…

That was something she never wanted to feel again.

She was bought back to reality when she heard one of the car doors open and shut. Raven wasn't fancy enough to need someone to open a door for her, she had hands.

And it seemed that Arty had the same idea. He was reaching for the door at the same time that she decided to. Within seconds of reaching each other, her hand snapped away as she realised what could happen and she literally recoiled to the other side of car. Much preferring to get out of the other door.

The man, Butler, he was waiting for Arty outside his door. While he himself looked a little confused. But covered the look when he noticed that she was looking. This guy didn't give anything away did he?

They walked a little way away from where the car was now parked and Raven decided to the change the mood, both of them didn't need to be completely stuck up. "So Arty, this is quite a house you live in," she could have whistled for emphasis but she didn't need to be that happy.

"I am Artemis Fowl the Second, only my parents call me 'Arty'," Just then the door to their abode opened and Butler took a defensive stance in front of Artemis, beginning to draw something out of his suit.

"Don't bother bro, it's only me," Came a bubbly voice from the doorway and out came a beautiful Eurasian girl, wearing a small black top and black cargo pants, her hair seemed wet and she looked to be twenty or less and even within seconds of seeing her, Raven definitely knew she was related to Butler.

"Juliet," came the soft-spoken word from Butler and he jogged over to his sister and swept her up into a big bear hug, lifting her off her feet.

She giggled and returned it, her wet hair parting to reveal a small blue diamond tattooed on the back of her neck and a jade ring glittered brilliantly on her finger in the waning light.

Her brother heaved a sigh as he let go of her, much as she wouldn't like to hear it, she was starting to get heavy, though it wasn't fat, muscle weighed more then that. Maybe he was just getting too old for this.

"Arty!" Juliet said when she stepped away from her brother and Artemis stepped forward graciously, a true smile tugging at his lips.

Which Raven saw and noted, _'only my parents call me Arty,'_ she snorted.

Artemis looked back a bit, but shook it off, Americans!

"It's nice to see you again. Butler made us watch all your matches," They took a second to look at him, he smiled a little as he looked down, the grass was looking increasingly interesting. "None of them had a chance," She smiled.

"I know! It wasn't as fun, they could have put up a bit of a fight at least," And Artemis took the time to finally hug her, placing a small kiss on her cheek.

"And Juliet, please don't call me Arty again," he whispered. Juliet wondered about the sudden change, he hadn't seemed to mind in all the years they'd know each other. She looked behind Artemis and saw the girl she was supposed to be taking care of. She tilted her head a bit and noticed that the girl was more then fairly pretty, dressed in a very punk-gothic style that on any other person she knew would have looked extremely bad, it didn't help that most other people she knew were men.

Ah ha! That seemed to be the ticket.

Juliet grinned a little too widely, giving the young professional wrestler a sinister look, deciding to play along with it, she answered: "Sorry master Artemis," He didn't quite seem to believe it.

"Well Butler and I have work to do, so take Miss Grayson's things to one of the guest rooms. It's the reason you're here in the first place," It wasn't a question.

"Yes sir!" she exaggerated…just a little, Juliet knew her place and that was that Artemis was in charge, even though she didn't _really_ work for his family any more.

Artemis on the other hand didn't feel the need to say anything more, so turned on his heel and continued into the house, disappearing from sight, with Butler right behind him.

"Shall we go then?" Came the voice of Juliet, who was standing just behind Raven with her things in hand already, "Patricia is it?"

Raven was a little stunned, Juliet…she moved quick. "Please call me Raven, the name Patricia…" she shuddered for emphasis, she really hated that name!

"Your American! I'm American! At least originally," the girl practically squealed with delight, before composing herself again, "Okay Raven, lets get you settled in." Taking the lead, she led Raven into the house, up a flight of marble stairs and across the landing, opening the door directly across from it. "You'll be staying in here," opening the door wider, Juliet ushered the girl in.

The room itself seemed massive. It was fully furnished with a king sized four-poster bed, a large wooden desk and chair, a fairly large television, equipped with DVD player and a separate sound system. There was also a small (quite random) three-person sofa, a bookshelf and a set of double doors that were open to show a wardrobe. It had a stunningly large bay window that had a great view of the battlements that surrounded them.

She was lost in the grandeur of the entire establishment until Juliet's voice bought her back to Earth.

"There's a small bathroom through that door," She said signalling to a little silver knob hanging in the middle of a wall, with the faintest lines to signify a door. "But there's time to look at this later. Right now, you are about to go on a tour of Fowl Manor.

-,-

It was almost two hours later when Raven returned to her new room. The tour itself took about half the time itself. The house was bigger then huge.

I mean Raven had a pretty good memory, but at that time she really thought she'd need a map to navigate the 'Manor'.

And the hallway with the portraits…

Can you say creepy?

But the rest of the rooms were done beautifully but there were a few that Juliet seemed to make a point of missing.

Raven wasn't so nosey that she _had_ to know what was behind those doors, but she did vaguely wonder what the Fowl's were hiding.

She couldn't actually tell what the time was, only that it had been forever since she last slept because of the time differences; when suddenly jet lag hit (or what she thought was jet lag) her like a tonne of bricks. _'Sleep bad…don't…sleep…'_ her groggy mind kept trying to say, but the functions that could have registered that and actually done something about it, seemed to have shut down.

Raven blindly climbed into the bed, still fully dressed and sunk, not only into _the_ most comfortable mattress she had ever had the pleasure of sleeping on, but also into a slumber that seemed very different from all the others.

-,--,--,-

**A/N:** Do I sense a bit of a cliffhanger? I think I do. Well I guess you'll just have to wait to find out what happens next then wont we. And in the next chapter, more important characters will be introduced, and more of the plot will be revealed! _Sighs_ – how I relish in the fact that my story has one…

LOL anyways, I was also informed of a little mistake I made at the end of my story in my Authoresses Notes. I guess I should add it in here again because it makes more sense that way, so I will say it again: Okay folks that's it. I know how hypocritical it is of me but I'm sorry for the out of character-ness, I like it better this way _- pouts childishly -_. I'm also sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes, I was never very good at that even with Word. I wont push you for reviews this time because even if I get enough, I can't promise you how soon I can update. So I hope you enjoyed reading it, and hope even more that you review and leave you're email addresses!

Anyways thanks a bunch for managing to get this far,

- Amanda aka The Obsessive Compulsive Hobbit.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** I own barely any of this story, practically all of the credit must go to Eoin Colfer, who is the genius behind Artemis Fowl.

**Authoresses Note:** Hello again! And may I say how incredibly sorry I am for making you wait this long! It's been months I know, but hopefully this chapter will make up for the long wait. What else is there to say besides happy reading!

,-,

**Artemis Fowl: And The Raven's Prophecies  
Chapter 3: In Which Hostilities are Renewed and Many New Things Discovered**

Captain Holly Short sat behind a wafer thin laptop in the LEP Operations Booth. There was something allegedly important their resident centaur wanted to ask her about, but since she was there…she may as well catch up on something she was having a little trouble letting go of.

Foaly had set up a special surveillance system to keep an eye on Fowl Manor after the mind wipes. It was only supposed to last for the six months, but he conveniently "forgot" to terminate the link and so it had been running for the past three years.

Holly connected to the Internet quickly and managed to find a believable cover for why she was using the computer. The magical version of Guns and Ammo came up on screen, but was soon after minimized. She had more important things to do…

With practised ease she bought up the file and preceded to stare at it, not truly knowing what she was looking for. Lost in the seconds of nothing she saw. Until she did see something. Or more specifically someone.

Typing in commands to zoom in, she managed to catch the creature standing by the window. Holly gave a surprised little laugh.

Juliet Butler stood looking down at something on the grounds. Juliet was a sight Holly didn't think she was going to see again. She really quite liked the mud girl. And with the realisation that she was looking at something, Holly moved the camera when…

A voice interrupted…

"Holly - " Came Foaly's voice as he also came into view of the newly un-tinted operations booth. "'Bout those carrots, you still owe me a - " He stopped dead in his tracks in the doorway. Looking at Holly who had a stupid grin plastered all over her face.

"What are you doing?" instantly suspicious. He may have stopped wearing the tin foil hat, but was just as paranoid as ever.

Holly's smile faltered a bit but didn't disappear. "Nothing," her voice completely giving her away, "I was just waiting for you. What was that you said about carrots?"

Foaly still continued to eye her suspiciously and began to make his way over to her. She closed the surveillance file, opening the website, she had prepared earlier.

It was a lost cause trying to fool him. Holly tried to school her features into looking interested, but they seemed to have stopped working. She looked up, a defeated look in her eyes.

He pushed her aside and began what looked like him just pushing random buttons. But eventually managed to find what she was looking at before and gave her a somewhat concerned look. He had matured _a_ _little_ over the years.

"Now Holly…" he started, but new figures on the laptops screen drew away his attention. "…Who do we have here?"

"What?" she asked as Foaly moved aside.

The surveillance system was focused on the area outside the front door and there seemed to be a little reunion going on.

The Butlers were hugging and Artemis was a little was off, with a girl neither of them recognised. At least that's what Holly thought; she failed to acknowledge the importance of the girl. Because if she had, she would have resigned right there.

"Ahhhh…has Fowl got himself a girlfriend?" Foaly asked, a little childishly. He looked at Holly and they shared a look before both exclaiming at the same time: "Nah…!"

They turned back around and continued to watch.

Artemis was now talking to Juliet; he hugged her and spoke some more, before leading Butler away. "This isn't as good without sound," Foaly whined.

"What isn't as good?" Came a voice, which made them both jump.

Their Commander, Julius Root, had snuck in on them; his voice like Holly's was notable fake. He continued to look between them, not bothering with the computer, which was very lucky for them. "Nothing Commander," Holly ventured, but after saying that immediately regretted it. For his normal purple hue reappeared on his face and he began to rage about slacking off on the job.

But that was all Foaly need to shut of the computer. His fingers moving so incredibly fast that they didn't seem to touch the keys, looking as if he just passed his hand across the top of the keyboard.

"…Now get back to work Captain!" he ended, the hue slowly ebbing away.

"Yes sir," she replied, sensing that he wasn't in the mood to be denied; passing a pitying smile to Foaly she slipped out of the Operations booth. A pitying smile that promised many, many carrots.

"Now Foaly," Commander Root started, a definite sign of defeat in his voice, "We have a problem."

,--,--,

**_Artemis Fowl's Journal. Disk One. Encrypted._**

_I have decided to keep a diary. In fact, I am surprised that the idea has never occurred to me before. An intellect such as mine should be documented so that future generations of Fowls can take advantage of my brilliant ideas._

_Of course, I must be careful with such a document. As valuable as it would be to my descendants, it would be more valuable to the law enforcement agents who are forever trying to gather evidence against me._

_It is even more important that I keep this journal a secret from my father. He is not himself since his escape from Russia. He has become obsessed with nobility and heroism. Abstract concepts at best. As far as I know, nobility and heroism are not accepted by any of the world's major banks. The family's fortune is in my hands, and I will preserve it in the way I always have, through ingenious plots. Most of these plots will be illegal. The best always are. Real profit lies in the shadowy areas beyond the law._

_I have decided, however, out of respect for my parents' values, to change my criteria for victim selection. It would seem better for the world's ecology if several global corporations went bankrupt, and so I have resolved to help them on their way. Not victimless crimes, but ones where few tears will be shed for the injured parties. This does not mean that I have become a weak, latter-day Robin Hood. Far from it. I intend to reap substantial benefits from my crimes._

_My father is not the only one to have changed. Butler has grown old almost overnight. His appearance is the same as ever, but he has slowed down considerably, no matter how he tries to hide it. But I will not replace him. He has been a loyal employee, and his expertise in matters of intelligence will be invaluable. Perhaps Juliet will accompany me when actual protection is needed, though she now claims that a life in personal protection is not for her. Next week she travels to the United States to try out for a wrestling team. Apparently she has chosen 'Jade Princess' as her stage name. I can only hope that she fails the audition. Though I doubt it. She is a Butler, after all._

_Of course, I have some ongoing ventures that I can work on without the aid of a bodyguard. In recent years I have developed software to divert funds from various bank accounts to my own. This software will have to be upgraded to stay ahead of the computer crime squads. Version 2.0 should be online within six months. Then there is my talent for art forgery. In the past I have favoured the Impressionists, but now, for some reason, I am drawn to the more fantastical subject matter, such as the fairy creatures depicted by Pascal Herve in his _Magical World _series. But these projects must be suspended temporarily, for today I discovered that I am the victim of a conspiracy._

_The day began strangely. When I awake I experienced an instant of weakness. For a single moment before I opened my eyes, I felt content, my drive to accumulate wealth forgotten. This has never happened before. Perhaps the mood was left over from some magical dream, or perhaps my father's new-found positive attitude is contagious. Whatever the cause, I must be careful to avoid such lapses in the future. With my father in his current frame of mind, this is no time to lose my resolve. I must remain as driven as always. Crime is the way forward for the Fowls. _aurum postestas est.

_Minutes later, a greater mystery presented itself. As I washed my face at the basin, a tiny object fell from one of my eyes. Close examination in the lab revealed it to be a semi-corroded, tinted contact lens. Not only that, but a mirrored layer had been added behind the tinted lens. Ingenious. Undoubtedly the work of a master craftsman. But to what purpose? It is strange, but even though I have no knowledge of this lens, or how it came to be in my eye, I feel the answer is somewhere in my own brain. Hidden in the shadows. _

_Imagine my surprise when Juliet and Butler discovered mirrored lenses in their own eyes. These lenses are so clever they could have been my own invention, so obviously this unknown adversary must not be underestimated._

_I will track the culprit down, make no mistake. No clue will be left uninvestigated. Butler has a contact in Limerick, an expert in the field of lenses and scopes. He may recognize our intruder's handiwork. Butler is on his way there, as I write._

_And so, a new chapter begins in the life of Artemis Fowl the Second. In a matter of days my father returns with his new-found conscience. I will shortly be shipped off to boarding school, where I will have access to a pathetic computer centre and an even more pathetic laboratory. My bodyguard seems to be too old for physical tasks and there is an unknown adversary planting strange objects on my very person._

_Overwhelming difficulties, you may think. An ordinary person would draw the shutters and hide from the world. But I am no ordinary person. I am Artemis Fowl, the latest in the Fowl crime dynasty, and I will not be turned from my path. I will find whoever planted those lenses and they will pay for their presumption. And once I am rid of this nuisance, my plans will proceed unhindered. I shall unleash a crime wave the like of which has never been seen. The world will remember the name of Artemis Fowl._

And this entry was written almost three years ago. And things had definitely changed. Juliet had gotten a place on her wrestling team and now the Jade Princess only had to defend her title whenever a title bout needed to be fought out. And as for being shipped off to boarding school. It didn't go that far.

Artemis Fowl Seniors newfound conscience had prevented Angeline from sending him away. "I want the family to be closer," were his father's choice of words. And after a few little arguments, mostly to do with how: "he's a growing boy Angeline," and "he lives in a world full girls, he'll have to get use to them sometime," did his mother and father change his school. It was funny how they seemed to know a lot of educators.

As for Butler's battles catching up with him, it had driven Artemis to extreme measures he never thought he'd take, or thought that Butler would agree too. In his words: Defence is my job. Though as much as Artemis hated getting hot and sweaty, for the past three years he had spent almost every spare moment training.

He couldn't shake off an inexplicable feeling of helplessness. So Butler, slowly, was willingly teaching him everything he knew, making full use of their private dojo and when he was not with Butler, he used the facilities available to him at school. Though only to build up his speed and stamina, Artemis didn't see the need to become 'muscular' as such, it was better to stay deceptively lean.

But in saying that, there wasn't much spare time, to well, spare. Especially for the conspiracy that was against him.

Butler spoke to his contact in Limerick, who seemed surprised that Butler had come back so soon. They discovered that it was Butler who ordered the mirrored lenses, but they were none the wiser as to why he had done so. "I feel the answer is somewhere in my own brain." Seemed very much to apply.

Artemis didn't like not knowing something that seemed very important. He prided himself on the fact that he was well on the verge of knowing everything. But school had put itself first and there was nothing he couldn't do about it. It wasn't that any of the work was hard, far from it. It was just the 'catering for the intellectually challenged'. Meaning making posters and such things along those line, needless to say it was a tedious and extremely annoying.

Yet it didn't mean that he was forgetting about it, no. It merely meant that he was keeping it in the back of his mind.

But all thoughts flew straight out of Artemis's head, when sudden screaming penetrated the walls of his room. Juliet had obviously moved Patricia in the room next to his…damn.

,--,--,

Even though it started like all the others, Raven felt that she had a little more control over what she saw and how she acted. She was still dressed in her uniform and her parents were there as well, looking benignly happy and so…at peace.

It was hard to say how long she just stood there and watched them, but in recurring dreams the same things always happen and so as if on cue, fire erupted. And much as she couldn't help it, this time she screamed.

She did what she always did and flung herself at her parents and clung onto them. She was expecting the arms to take her away, but they never came. The flames felt even more real then ever and the heat was so stifling that she broke out into a sweat.

"There, there Patricia it's alright," her mother said and the next thing she knew, it was. Her father cast a commanding hand out and passed it over all the flames and they disappeared instantly and so completely that you couldn't believe they were ever there in the first place. The temperature dropping rapidly with it. Externally her body stopped struggling.

The onlookers stared transfixed at Raven as she went through a range of emotion, no one knowing what to do or how to help. Her face was calm now and she seemed at peace, she was breathing deeply and had the smallest of smiles playing on her lips. Though they did not know it, she was reliving her talk with her parents, and it was going just as it had when she had died.

"How could you die!" Raven mumbled somewhat angrily. This snapped everyone out of their trances. But before they could say anything she added softly: "But daddy I'm dead, I'm with you and mum forever…aren't I?"

"Dead?" Juliet echoed. But again any further questions were cut short, because it seemed that Raven was trying to suck in every ounce of oxygen in the room at once. And after a few moments of complete silence, she began to stir.

She blinked up at the three staring down at her and found it odd that she wasn't worried how they got there or even why. "Hi," she said softly, in better mood then when she went to bed, even towards The Arrogant One. She remembered her dream and even though it still made absolutely no sense to her, she cherished every second of it.

Though the mood obviously wasn't contagious, Artemis snorted superiorly and walked back towards the door leading to the bathroom, which she now realised linked her room to his. "Butler," he commanded over his shoulder, and the tall manservant joined Artemis through the door, closing it softly behind him.

"So…" Juliet said slowly, "Do you dream you're dead often?"

Raven paled…

,-,

The two weeks passed eventless enough and with no more talk of death. Artemis began ignoring Raven completely, his time was obviously too good to be spent with the likes of her. But that suited her just fine, Juliet was excellent company and Raven even had a feeling she was beginning to rub off on her older brother. At least _he_ bothered to talk to her…when Artemis wasn't looking.

It was the day after her arrival and Raven was settling into Greenwich Mean Time. She had decided to take a shower before lunch and after getting changed, realised that she would have to redress her arm and found she had no real clue how to do it.

Rummaging around in her suitcase produced the rolls of black bandages and looking down at her skin showed that her cuts were pretty much healed and she could bend it…roughly.

Abandoning anything else she would have needed to do, she decided to just wrap her wrist, just so it was protected in the unlikely case that it would get hurt.

Raven did a pretty botchy job and decided to cover it up a bit by putting a jumper over the top of it. She then quickly blow-dried her hair and set off towards the end of the house, she thought the kitchen was in.

As she was coming down the stairs, she caught sight of Artemis and Butler and hoping they were going towards the kitchen, she gave chase at a fair distance away, so not to upset his majesty.

Raven wasn't disappointed when a delicious smell wafted towards her and she picked up her pace a bit.

Lunch was waiting on a half moon granite bench with four bar stools for each of them. Juliet stood proudly on the other side of the counter and motioned everyone to start eating.

Portions of deliciously creamy pasta were already served onto four plates and the group hungrily took their seats and began eating.

Everything was going fine and the food was great! It was quite easily the very best thing she had tasted. But as Raven was eating (her first square meal in a while) her bandages were coming undone. Soon after she used her left hand to get a small second helping, but before she reached the bowl, she heard someone start coughing.

Pausing in midair she looked around and saw Butler, Artemis and Juliet all watching her. Raven felt very self-conscious and couldn't help feeling very exposed. She looked down and saw why the person had coughed. She was trailing her bandage and if she wasn't warned, it would have landed right in the middle of the pasta.

Feeling thoroughly put off eating now, she quickly sat back down, with her hands in her lap, blushing crimson and wanting to leave as soon as possible.

Raven's feelings were slightly exaggerated by the fact that these people were practically strangers to her. Even though her aunt and uncle knew them didn't exactly mean they were her kind of people, even though Juliet was proving to be a real friend.

Raven didn't want them to think less of her, when they knew barely anything about her, as much as she would later try and deny it; she even cared about what Artemis thought of her.

"I can fix it if you like," Raven looked up and saw Butler standing before her.

"Oh no, it's okay, I'll be alright," She managed a weak smile, before starting to tug out her bandages, trying to prove that she would be okay without them.

She failed dismally, as her wrist throbbed painfully and a grimace crossed her face.

"Hand," he wasn't really asking, and Raven couldn't resist. She slowly placed her hand in his larger one and he gently lifted up the sleeve of her jumper. He saw her cuts and looked up at her and if it was possible Raven blushed even deeper.

"It was an accident," she mumbled looking away and he didn't ask any more.

Once her face had lost most of its colour, Raven looked up to find that Juliet was eating again and though Artemis was trying hard not to show it, he cast side long glances in an attempt to find out what was going on. But Butlers bulk shielded his view of her and after a few minutes he too decided against prying.

"There," he commented as he stood up. And Raven saw that he had finished, but felt no different. Her bandages were wrapped in such a way that they felt like they were just another part of her arm.

And oddly enough that was that. Because as Raven tried to offer her thanks, Butler shook his head and went back to his seat and promptly ate the rest of his lunch.

Shaking her head slightly, Raven turned back to her empty plate, still feeling less then hungry. Deciding that she wouldn't eat any more, she slipped delicately from her seat and made her way to the sink and began to wash her plate. "Don't bother," Juliet replied, "We have a dishwasher," and she proceeded to pull out what seemed like a large drawer to show that they did indeed have a dishwasher.

"I don't mind…"Raven began before the plate was somewhat forcibly removed from her hands.

"You are a guest here Raven," she replied with a smile and again that seemed to be the end of it. Raven wondered about this, the Butler family was proving to be a strange one indeed. So with nothing else to say, Raven shrugged, rinsed her hands of soap, drank a quick glass of water before thanking Juliet for an excellent lunch and making her way back to her room. Which proved to be an easier task then she expected.

,-,

A few days after that, Ravens things from America finally found there way to her, along with a letter forwarded to her by Mr Rickman. Her things were in better condition then she expected, but when put in her new room, it only made it seem emptier.

Inside the envelope was a letter addressed to her from a Mr Sirus Rutherford (a rather sinister name for a meek, well meaning man) and a smaller note, written on a Post It from Mr Rickman himself. Raven chose to read that first:

"Patricia Grayson - I was contacted by your Aunt and Uncle and they told me to send all of your mail to this address," He wrote in his small, slightly cramped writing, "I don't think it is really necessary to say how I dislike being used as a messenger, but I thought that I would do this for you once -," abruptly the note ended and was written in a way that suggested that the writer had more to say. It wasn't brain surgery to think what it was that Mr Rickman was about to add, the words "and only once" practically screamed at her from the little piece of sticky paper.

Digging through the envelope again, Raven looked to see if there was any other little scrapes of paper in there that might have been the end of his little note, but she couldn't find any. Raven was just about to abandon it for the actual letter, when on a whim turned to over to find the words "and only once" scrawled on the back of the note just under the sticky tab.

It almost shocked her to see how cheap Mr Rickman was.

Almost.

She _had_ grown up with him around and nothing much about his attitude managed to surprise her now. Deciding to ignore it as a fact of life. Raven turned her attention to the letter sitting patiently in its envelope.

The letter was indeed from Sirus Rutherford, the family lawyer and it read as follows:

"_Dear Miss Grayson,_

_It saddened me greatly to hear about your parents' tragic, tragic accident. If there is anything that I can do to help, please do not hesitate to ask. _

"But now on to the reason of this letter, in my copy of your parents Will, it has been written that you will receive only two things. Your parent's joint accounts and in addition to that, your trust fund money. And something I was surprised to read, but it was also your parent's wish that you receive complete ownership of the Grayson Academy. -"

Ravens breath caught in her throat. Her mother (this was definitely her decision, seeing as how her father had barely any sway over the proceedings of the school) was giving her, her school. The one she may as well have built from the ground up.

The weight of that now too settled in her chest as she continued to read:

"_- But there is time yet to think about that. You are still to young to accept the money and the Academy so until you come of age, the firm and I will gladly handle any such legal matters that concern you or your recently deceased. On your 18th birthday you will receive full control of your families wealth, your mothers Academy and all your other financial affairs including stocks, but do rest assured we at Rutherford and Rutherford will be here to help you if ever you need assistance._

"_There is only one more thing to mention in this letter and that is to mention your allowance. I have indeed discussed it with a few of my colleagues here with children roughly of your age and I have decided that an allowance of the equivalent of 500 dollars US (which is roughly now 325 pounds) will be converted and sent to you biweekly, we hope it would be sufficient._

"_Though it may seem a great deal now, it may prove to be a little short in the weeks to come, so I do suggest that you spend your money sparingly Patricia. If at the end of the month though there is money left over that you do not wish to keep a hold of, place it all in an envelope and send it to us and we shall contact some of the banks your money is in and deposit the money ourselves. You maybe wondering about online banking, credit cards and the like, but it was decided that you will get yours when you turn 18 and I must insist that you do not ask otherwise._

"_If there is something of particular importance that you wish to buy send word to us and we shall acquire the extra money and send it to you, unless of course it is quite an excessive amount or if you wish to purchase something like a house or a boat._

"_I think that is everything I needed to say, so without dragging this on any further I wish you the best of luck with your life,_

Yours sincerely 

Sirus Rutherford

_"P.S. enclosed in this envelope is your allowance, you shall receive yours on a Monday, provided that the mail is delivered to you on time. And this is also my email address, if there is ever anything you need to know, you can contact me at it and I will try and help in anyway that I can. My address is: if by magic, Raven looked inside the envelope and there in plain sight, (though that was definitely not there before) was a small rolled bundle of still crisp bank notes._

Raven placed the roll in the pockets of her sweats without so much as a smile and after carefully refolding the letter into its thirds, she placed it on her desk and quickly sat down to email a quick reply to the lawyer.

,-,

Life continued uneventfully for Raven after that. She eventually learned to bind her own bandage, but by then it was really unnecessary. It was more to hide the red marks easily visible on her pale skin.

And she was even beginning to feel more at home in the Manor, but that was mainly to do with Juliet. She was the only reason Raven smiled more then once a day. It was when Raven was talking to Juliet that she wondered what she had obviously done to offend Artemis. Because I surely seemed she had.

It seemed that every day he went out of his way to ignore her. But that didn't seem right. Artemis didn't strike her as the person who would go out of his way for anyone. The looks he did actually pass her made her feel like she was holding him back from something. But then again that didn't seem right either…what would her presence be holding him back from…?

Though Raven quite frankly despised the way she was being treated by him, she wasn't about to antagonise him into a response of any sort. The thought "homeless" rang in her mind and until school started (the one which she didn't even know the name of), that's exactly what would happen to her if he decided to kick her out.

In her opinion, Artemis had far too much power…

It was beginning to get late and Raven thought it best to call her friends back home. Which is what she constantly referred to it as. Home.

Picking up her phone, Raven dialled a number she had long since memorised.

The phone rang incessantly in Ravens ears as she waited for someone to answer, which no one proceeded to do. But it did go into voice mail and Raven left a message:

"Hey Conner, it's me…obviously. I guess you're not around…pity; I just got some interesting news. Well you know the drill call me back on this number as soon as you get back. Missing you more and more each day babe, bye…" Raven sighed dejectedly to herself, trailing off before she turned her phone off.

'Missing you more and more each day' really seemed to apply. Would she even attempt to kid herself into thinking that she was trying to start a new life? Almost all her thoughts were on her friends and the ones that strayed away from that were sadly on her parents.

Raven called her friends like clockwork. Usually around the same time every day, if she didn't call them, it would indicate that something was horribly wrong, because she had stressed very clearly during their first phone call that she would call them at least once every day, for what seemed the rest of her life. She was so thankful for global coverage.

Raven paced slightly in her room, almost anxiously awaiting Conner's call. But for all she knew it could take him hours to answer, so she turned and strode back to her desk to do some work, when she realised that she didn't have any…

Soon after she resumed pacing and tried to take her mind off the call.

Oddly enough, the first thing she thought of was Artemis. She quickly covered it up by saying that was only because he was the source of at least part of her misery. For much as Raven had tried to get along, he seemed against it right from the get go. Without even bothering to talk to her or getting to know her, he seemed to already have an opinion of her that he really didn't like.

He was the reason Raven pretty much confined herself to her room, in the hopes of staying out of his way until she was out of the Manor. And the reason she got her friends to call her on her mobile and never to there.

And that was **definitely** not her! In all her life, she **never** hid!

Since Raven started living there, it seemed that every snippet of a look he gave her, with his calculating deep blue eyes, picked apart at her character and gave her the odd feeling that he was stealing little pieces of her soul. Making her meek and shy, which she never was before. She seemed to lose all confidence around him and that she reasoned was because this was his house and that she had learned long ago that when she was a guest in someone else's home it was best to stay out of their way.

But Raven vowed to change that. She had only one day left there and she was going to spend the day outside. The outside she hadn't seen since she arrived, two whole weeks ago.

And when school started, she was going to start acting like herself again, whether Artemis was around or not.

"Grrr…!" Raven growled as she came out of her reverie only to find her phone still hadn't rung. She stopped pacing and looked down at the little device and stared at it intently, willing it to ring. And to her surprise it did. Conner's number flashing recognition on the little screen.

"Hello…" she drawled lazily and somewhat coldly.

"Raven don't be like that," Conner answered.

"Well you should have called sooner," she retorted more then a little childishly.

"I couldn't,"

"And why not?" her voice still childish.

"Because Patricia, I was in class…" even though she couldn't see him, Raven knew he was giving her his deadpan look, one he never kept on his face long around her.

"Oh…" she replied softly, a soft blush spreading across her face.

"Yeah, Oh…. You're the only person I don't keep on silent and I just happened to be in Rickman's class-" Raven heard someone cough obviously in the background, "-Mr Rickman's class and when you left your message, which everyone heard by the way, I swear he got even angrier and he confiscated my phone until the end of class." Ravens blush deepened three fold.

"Sorry…" She managed to mumble.

"Apology accepted." Conner said and she could practically hear the grin in his voice.

"Okay…" Came her slow reply, too tired was she to rebut the fact that she had nothing to apologise for.

"You are alright there babe?"

"And if I wasn't? Would you come?" Ravens soft tone a little playful.

"You know I would," He said with all seriousness.

"Well then maybe I'm not…" Conner seemed just ready to answer, but she cut him off and continued, "But then again, school starts day after tomorrow. Maybe things will get better…"

"They better! Or God help me, I'm bringing you back here. Screw Rickman-" Again there was that clearing of a throat in the background and Raven had to ask where he was. "Oh, yeah…I'm in Miss Honey's office. I mean why waste my money when I can waste Rickman's-"

"I will not tell you again Mr Holloway. Stop calling him that…he's just next door! Hello Patricia,"

"Tell Miss Honey I said hello. And you have to stop doing that. That's going to be my money you're wasting soon…" The second part was mostly mumbled, an after thought really, but Conner had heard each word clearly. His reaction was purely a reflex,

"What!" Raven frowned a little as she wondered at this.

"I said to tell Miss Honey I said hello,"

"No, not that part I heard that,"

"Then why haven't I heard you say that then?" Grumbling more then a little, he finally conveyed her message. "Now tell me what you said!"

"I don't think I said anything else…" She pondered this as Conner pressed,

"About, me wasting your money soon…what does that mean?"

"Oh…" Raven started before proceeding to tell Conner all about the letter she had received from her lawyer.

"Oh…" Conner agreed after he had heard the whole story, "…wow…" he added having thought for a few more seconds. He wasn't helping.

"Well I better go. Money is being wasted while you mumble incoherently. And Conner, please don't tell anyone. Even Ed and Azlyn and Aidan, okay?" This seemed to bring him out of his ramblings and he frowned a little. 'Why can't I tell the others?'

"Okay, then," he said slowly, "as long as you take care of yourself babe."

"Bye-bye Conner," she smiled a little as she hung up the phone.

,-,

Golden light filtered through Raven's partially closed curtains and stirred her instantly; she'd slept too late. She had spent far too long inside, so, resolute in her decision to spend the day outside, she showered and dressed quickly in a skirt, a top and a half done up hoody. Deciding to for go the bandage wrap.

Digging through her handbag she found what would probably be her only source of food for quite a few hours. So after shoving a few handfuls of candy into the pockets of her hoody, she slipped out of her room and went downstairs to the kitchen to see if she couldn't find a quick brunch.

Two pieces of toast later she exited the house through the front door and stopped where she stood. 'How long has it been like this?' She wondered. For in all the time she sat in her room and watched the sun, rise and fall in front of the battlements, she had never really noticed the garden.

Inside the meticulously kept stonewall and battlements, was quite a lush garden. There were perfectly watered lawns; a stunning water feature and peacocks she could **swear** were not there when she had arrived.

Quietly shocked at the size of their wealth, Raven muttered obscenities under her breath as she made her way around the back of the house. To which she was happy to find, was something far less grand. Though not to say not impressive. The vast area was tremendously well kept and the large lone tree never seemed to drop any leaves, for the ground was completely clear.

Sighing a little in the noon sun, she walked towards the tree and sat down, facing away from the Manor. Digging through one of her many pockets, she produced a Cola flavoured lollipop and popped it into her mouth just as a peacock strayed into her line of vision.

By the time she had finally finished her lollipop, the peacocks lazy walk…back…and forth…. Was slowly rocking Raven to sleep. She closed her eyes gently and all she saw was black. Nothing felt out of the ordinary until she found she couldn't open her eyes. Then a voice seemingly coming from everywhere announced: **"Be afraid Adriana…"** the booming voice reverberated around her head, receding slowly before his voice sounded again, **"…none shall be spared…"** again his voice toned down a little, **"…the Revolution is upon us!"** He practically screamed in her head and the beginnings of manic laughter sounded, before it was instantly cut out, with her eyes snapping open.

She shook her head to try to clear it, 'what the hell was that about? Adriana? Who the hell!' she would've continued to ponder it, but as her vision cleared, she saw that the sky outside was grey and stormy and it suddenly rumbled ominously. 'Note to self: eat more then toast before taking naps,'

"Gha! Rain!" She muttered as she looked around blindly for a way to escape the impending rain. Noticing a small door set in the corner of the rotund battlement. Raven stood up a little too fast and the world spun for a second, 'I can just feel a headache coming on,' but she made a quick dash across the lawn and luckily finding it unlocked. Raven mounted the circular stairway and found herself in a covered little tower and to her sheer enjoyment; she had the perfect view of the sunset, which was bound to be soon.

Deciding that the tower's view wasn't as good as the one to her left. She left the cover of her tower and walked across to the next one, where she found a little stone bench. Raven sprawled herself comfortably across the bench, waiting patiently for the sun to set.

,--,--,

Artemis growled softly, his concentration breaking for the umpteenth time that hour. The metallic sound of Fur Elise ringing loudly in his head, even though it was barely audible in his room. Standing it no further, he rose from the lotus position and proceeded into the guest bedroom.

Patricia, as much as Artemis disliked to admit it, she wasn't as much of a hindrance as he had originally thought. Begrudgingly (with a little help from Butler) Artemis did eventually admit that his handling of the situation wasn't quite the best, but he stood by his decision. The exact instant he had heard that she was American, made him unbelievably distrustful. Memories pawed at him, but try as he might, they were just far away enough to stay forgotten. Though the suspicion remained, almost stronger then before. That was the main reason for the background check.

Artemis was trying to sum her up. Figure her out to see if he could justify his suspicion…but so far to no avail…damn.

Butler followed Artemis into the guest bedroom and after a brief period of silence, the metallic noise started up again. Artemis easily located the, what can only be called 'cute', mobile phone. The name 'Conner' flashed above a number and he could almost feel the urgency in the tone. But the sound died out instantly and the flashing stopped, just as Butler spoke, "Should I return this to Miss Grayson?"

Artemis considered it for a moment, before a small smile slowly appeared on his face. "No I think I can manage, but firstly I want to…improve it a little," Fur Elise started up again but Artemis silenced it.

,-,

"Done," Artemis spoke softly, replacing the back of her mobile phone with a satisfying click. "Where is she now?" Butler looked up from the monitors with views from the surveillance cameras.

"She's just entered the northwest tower. I'll get Juliet to take it to her,"

"No, no Butler. I've been neglecting my guest for too long. I'll take it to her," Artemis rose gracefully from his seat at his desk, turning on the phone as he did so. Butler had a very dubious look on his face, but wiped it away swiftly when Artemis looked his way, though he had a feeling he had caught it anyway. But neither he nor Butler chose to comment.

Butler held the door open for him and he walked purposely out the door. Arriving within minutes. The sky grumbled as he walked into the tower, leaving Butler behind at the door. Artemis spotted her easily and for a second, lost all thought.

Patricia sat forward on her seat with her hands behind her back to support her. The plain black skirt she wore was slightly hitched up, revealing far more then she would have intended to if she realised what she was doing.

Shaking his head to stop himself from staring any longer, Artemis stepped forward into the circular area and cleared his throat, making his presence known. The girl in question paused a moment before turning her head to face him. An emotion he couldn't place flashed across her face, just as thunder clapped loudly in the sky and the sound of big droplets of rain hitting things echoed in the growing dark.

Artemis however ignored the noises, maintaining eye contact with her and after a few more minutes, she turned away again. She spoke in a soft voice, "It's beautiful isn't it?"

He turned to look in the direction she was and saw only the setting sun through a curtain of rain. He shifted again to look at her through the corner of his eye and saw her give a contented sigh. Artemis tried again and managed vaguely to understand what she saw in it. But this was going beyond the point. He didn't come here to look at sunsets.

Opening his mouth to say something, Artemis turned to see her pull something out of one of her pockets. Her question caught Artemis off guard and his mouth hung open a little after she had asked: "Lollipop?"

He briefly contemplated replaying: "I don't like lollipops," but even as he thought that he berated himself about it, when out of nowhere, a memory struck him.

"That's right, Mud Boy. Playtime's over. Time for the professionals to take over. If you're a good boy I'll give you a lolly when I come back." And when Holly was long gone, soaring beneath the hallway's ancient oak beams, Artemis said, "I don't like lollipops." It was a woefully inadequate response, and Artemis was instantly appalled with himself. Pathetic really: I don't like lollipops. No self respecting criminal mastermind would be caught dead even using the word lollipops…"

'I knew I shouldn't say it! But who's…'

"Holly…" Artemis breathed, "…why would she," but those thoughts were quickly slipping away, "…Mud Boy?"

"Holly?" Patricia answered, "Mud – what?" - Upon hearing Patricia speak, it snapped Artemis out of his trance like state, making him clear his throat quickly, and cover it up with a quick,

"No thank you," Though not quick enough it seemed. Patricia's eyes narrowed suspiciously and she rose gracefully from her seated position.

But Artemis' breath caught as Patricia stood right in front of him. Far too close for his comfort. "As disgusting as my name is, you would do well to remember it! Why are you here anyway?" her voice soft, but her tone hinting much anger, "Why after two weeks?"

"I came to give you this," Artemis replied his voice clipped at her accusatory tone. He dug into his pocket and produced her mobile phone and Patricia gasped in a second of realisation.

,--,--,

Without saying anything, Raven snatched the phone out of Artemis' loose grip and saw '21 missed calls' on the screen. Now fully ignoring everything, she dialled Conner's number and even Artemis could hear the loud, curt reply,

"What?"

"You're angry," Raven replied undecided whether to be guilty or angry at his tone of voice.

"Baby, no. Just…just worried. Why didn't you call?" Conner sighed heavily and it stung Raven, she was hurting him again, 'what happened to not making him worry again? Hmm…?' Added to the fact that her reason for not calling was pretty weak and frankly pathetic. She opted for feeling guilty…but that didn't mean she wasn't going to lie.

"Conner, I'm so sorry! It's just that school is starting tomorrow; I've been so busy packing. I just must have forgot, sweetie I'm so sorry!" at least one part of that is true, Raven thought, as she turned to face Artemis. She almost smiled sheepishly, but thought better of it. 'Why is he watching me?' It clicked that it was the same look he'd been wearing every time she noticed him looking, the soul-stealing look. Raven chose to get angry.

Covering the phone with one hand, which wasn't truly necessary since Conner wasn't saying anything, she leaned towards him a little and said, "Is their anything else?" As much as she tried, it still came out incredibly rude. She grimaced as his eyes narrowed and he snorted and walked away. What he had just done constituted as being nice, something that didn't seem to happen very often.

Artemis' footsteps had all but faded away, when she heard a little squelch and looking over the edge of the tower, she saw through the softly falling rain the big black shadow of Butler walking Artemis back to the Manor under a similarly black umbrella.

Raven noticed that he didn't look back up at her as far as she could see. But she became distracted when Conner's voice came back to her through the phone. She smiled a little; he'd already forgiven her.

They talked for another half hour and by then full dark had really settled in and the rain falling had crescendo-d back up to loud heavy droplets, making Raven hard pressed to return inside without being fully drenched.

Deciding anytime was as good; she carefully walked down the spiral staircase and almost broke her neck falling forward having tripped on an object lying against the wall. Gaining her bearing she patted her hands along the floor looking for the object, and within seconds, they closed around a slightly wet, materially, type object. Running her hands down it further, the surface changed to a smooth polished, hard something.

Gripping that something that was now so obviously an umbrella, Raven left the comforts of the tower and the second she stepped out into the rain with her umbrella drawn…a hidden sensor light above her turned on…"Grr…!"

,-,

**Beep - beep - beep……beep - beep - beep……beep - be - **"Gah…" Raven stated incoherently as she cut out the incessant noise and rolled over. She didn't even remember setting an alarm clock, or for that matter if she still had one (having not bothered to fully unpack everything).

'School…' her mind supplied, refusing to let her go back to sleep, "Gah…" she moaned again.

"Get up sleepy head," Someone laughed in her vicinity and Raven was so instantly awake, she screamed, bringing her covers up with her as she tried to scramble away and sit up, all at the same time.

"Don't worry its only me," said the voice she now recognised as Juliet's and the girl laughed again.

"You're evil Juliet," Raven groaned out.

"And you'll be late for school with that attitude," she said, and though her voice still held some amusement, there was enough seriousness in her tone to stop her complaining. "Now your uniform is all laid out here, be dressed soon Raven, breakfast will be ready shortly,"

Juliet left after that and Raven grudgingly left the comfort and warmth of her bed, stopped briefly to get her clothes and ran into the bathroom.

,-,

Raven arrived in the dining room out of breath. Holding the doorframe and trying to appear nonchalant, Raven inhaled deeply, also trying to keep her too big jumper from sliding down her arm to reveal her…scars... She wore plain black shoes and stockings and a black, grey and white checked pair of culottes that sat about an inch above her knee. The blouse she wore under her jumper was a button up top that was mostly plain white except for the black C on the left breast; the sleeves had two thin black rings around them and one black stripe on the collar. The jumper was also mostly plain black except for the grey C on the left breast with a white lion intertwined with it. Added to that was also a black tie which was all but hidden underneath all of her other clothes. Her blue-black hair was up in a ponytail, with her bangs tucked behind her ears, she also wore a pair of silver studs and Conner's necklace, and her black and silver watch.

Raven breathed a few more times before she joined the table, though the only person who was eating was Artemis and he was almost done. 'Note to self: keep check of the time when taking a shower,' It was a good thing that Raven wasn't very hungry, she took one of the nice, crisp looking apples from the bowl in the centre and began to eat and finished at the same time Artemis did.

"Shall I bring the car around sir?" Butler asked rising from the table and Artemis nodded, drinking his glass of water. Raven shivered a little, 'Sir…' Artemis had far too much power. In short minutes Butler was back again and Artemis was the first to rise.

His uniform looked very similar to hers, with its plain grey dress pants and black shoes. He wore a plain white shirt that was probably monogrammed with the same C that she had, a plain black tie and a black blazer with the grey C and the white lion.

Unaware of what she was doing, her eyes raked him up and down, a small smile playing on her lips. 'Such pretty eyes…well fitting clo - ' But Artemis seemed to sense her looking at him and turned, and all prospects of a smile disappeared from her face. 'Am I going mad? Was I just checking him out!' She questioned herself wildly, but all Artemis could do was glare as he walked away, he obviously didn't realise.

Trying vehemently to forget her other thoughts, she wondered if she should apologise for the day before. Chances were he wouldn't listen to her, but it would clear her conscience even if he didn't forgive her. 'But when…and how…?'

That thought followed her all the way to the car.

And then from there all the way through the countryside and the motorways, pretty much all the way to her school, which she quickly caught a glimpse of before it was covered by tall trees, down the windy path that led there. The gravel crunching loudly under their tyres, bought her from her trance. "Wow…" she breathed as she gazed at the school again and closer up. Artemis snorted from his seat. Her eyes narrowed a little at him, he was making it hard not to dislike him. But the third time she saw it, there was no mistaking the beauty of the building, or more accurately, buildings.

As they turned at the little water feature/roundabout, they came to a halt at the front of the main structure. Despite being almost entirely constructed of rose-red bricks, the expected wooden doors were replaced with flash looking metal-framed glass doors, and panels of just glass as the front wall (and a bit). And from what she could see from her seat in the car, the inside seemed to oddly glow white 'How very…sterile…' the little person in her head said, but the look fit.

Butler appeared by her door and opened it. Raven stared, she had completely forgotten about getting out of the car. He held out a hand for her and she gladly took it. Artemis chose to get out the opposite door and come round to join them. Raven took her chance to step a few more paces forward, but even at that distance she could still hear Artemis' low, crisp, curt voice say, "You are forgetting your place Butler! I am your charge!"

But Raven didn't want to hear any more then that. Moving slightly faster towards the beautiful red building, she stood at the foot of its stairs and admired the building. It was from the best she could tell, quite an old three story building, with a lot of windows. The building all but screamed renovation, but the way the new blended in with the old was very fitting. Though, she could only just see the other two buildings, she saw that they looked much the same as the one she was in front of, except for all the glass.

Artemis and a solemn Butler brushed past Raven to proceed up the stairs before her and Raven felt an instant cold wash over her just as Artemis' hand briefly brushed hers. Her skin prickled where their hands had briefly touched, and a slow nauseous feeling was starting to settle over her. Taking a few deep breathes in she calmed herself down and took a few shaky steps. It was a short flight so Raven managed to catch up with them just the door fell closed behind Butler.

A relatively young woman stood up as their little party came through the door, past the two white marble spiral staircases on either side of the vast room, across the floor made from the same kind of marble and stopped feet from her.

She smiled warmly and said in a sweet voice, "Hello and Welcome to St Clare's. Miss Grayson I presume," It wasn't really a question, more like a statement of fact, but she extended a hand to Raven, who shook it politely 'Artemis comes to a girly school, but more importantly, how did she know my name?' For fear she would still throw up, Raven giggled in her head. "And welcome back to you Mr Fowl," She also extended her hand to him and he shook it for as long as Raven did. "Mr Butler," she acknowledged him with a nod of her head, which he returned. "Now with the welcomes over…as you may or may not know I am Hilda Hunt, and you will refer to me as Mrs Hunt, I will be your dean.

"I make it my personal goal to meet all my new students and get to know them. My office is located right next to the Headmistresses. Any minor infringements of school policy, you will be sent to me, but any serious rule breaking and you will get sent straight to the Headmistress. And my punishments will seem mild against hers." Raven nodded her head, her silver studs glittering in the sunlight, just as silence settled over the group and Raven could just see Artemis out of the corner of her eye, itching to roll his own.

"Jewellery." The woman said suddenly, "Is only authorized in the form of a pair of studs, or hoop earrings smaller then your little finger, and a watch. Other religious items are acceptable, but only with a note from a parent or guardian. If you do have a note for jewellery that isn't necessary, you will come here with your note and get a uniform pass." Mrs Hunt paused again, and Raven causally bought up her hand to her chest, and carefully pushed her necklace down further. "Hmm…I believe that is all. There will be no real classes today, you shall spend the day with you're form group. Most of your school work will be done on computers and from what I have been told you already possess one," Again she made it sound like a fact and not a question, "And I do wish to remind you that you are on a scholarship here, which means that you must constantly keep your grades up. Too many slips and I am afraid, we'll have no choice... Well, that is all. You are in the same form class as Mr Fowl here, so he shall show you to your class. I hope you enjoy your time here at St Clare's Miss Grayson,"

With another nod of her head, Mrs Hunt turned on her heel and strolled away from them. Raven watched as she rounded the semi large room she was standing near and disappeared from sight. Glancing around at where Artemis used to be, she almost jumped in fright to find him gone. Turning quickly, she spotted him mounting the left hand side staircase. Growling softly under her breath, she ran after them, 'Grr…that apology is going to be very forced indeed, if it happens at all anymore. The ass should have waited for me! How am I suppose to know where I am going?'

The staircase narrowed quite significantly the further up they went, and as she was passing through the ceiling, the width of the staircase would roughly fit three people side by side.

They walked across a little landing at the top of the stairs and climbed down the beginnings of the one leading further up. They walked down the corridor and stopped at a door that looked much the same as every other door they had passed. The beige coloured wall was only broken by the door and a set of medium sized windows that touched the ceiling and ran across the length of their wall.

Already helping himself to the door, with quick steps he disappeared inside, leaving the door open for her, 'What a gentlemen. But okay take a big breath, you can do this.' Taking the big breath she promised herself, Raven slowly walked inside, shutting the door after herself.

The room that greeted her was of modest size and all its occupants were watching her. Taking a few more steps into the room, what looked to be her new form teacher, come up to greet her.

"You must be Patricia Grayson, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am Miss Orwell," the soft-spoken woman led her to her desk and made Raven face the class, she shivered subconsciously over her name. "Now if you'd like to introduce yourself to the class and tell us a little bit about yourself,"

"Um…well, hi." She started and instantly regretted it. It felt sorely lacking and thought it made her sound slow. "As you can no doubt tell from my accent, I am American and I am sixteen years old. I've actually only been in Dublin for…the last three…weeks…" Raven found herself frowning at the thought as her heart throbbed painfully, "I've…lived most of my life…in Madison County…" Glancing over at Miss Orwell, she silently asked if that was enough.

"If you would like to take a seat then," The tables were set up in typical rows, but the last two rows at the back of the class were propped up on two long steps (one for each row), that were just a few inches off the ground. The second to last row had a free desk; which was directly in front of her, in the centre of the row. Glancing around it, she took in the pretty girl next to the empty desk on her right, and the pretty looking guy who sat behind it, who flashed her a charming smile, before her eyes finally fell on deep blue ones that all but glared at her from his seat, daring her to sit down next to him.

She smiled a little as she walked over to her new seat and sat down we a flourish, though her heart still beat irregularly. She could almost hear the scowl on his face as she flashed him a fake bright smile and faced the teacher. "Now…" her teacher started off, but Raven quickly lost interest, she had almost forgotten what a school setting felt like, and how boring some of the stuff they taught could be.

Tilting her head slightly to one side, Raven's eyes glazed over and she stared blankly at the whiteboard, wishing she had someone to talk to.

Her prayers were soon answered when the pretty brunette sitting to her left leaned out of her chair and said in a half whisper, "Hey, I'm Glory, Patricia isn't it?"

"Please, call me Raven," she replied in the same tone, the traces of a true smile, blossoming on her face.

"Raven then - "

"If we're done then girls?" Miss Orwell said, tapping her foot on the hard wood floor. "Now back to the matter at hand, the sheets that are being passed to you should be passed on to your parents. It briefly outlines all the data the school has on you, the courses you have chosen and exactly where all the money you're paying is actually going to, though for you Patricia, it out lines the parameters of your scholarship," to this people sniggered 'why **are** they laughing' "and the things the school will supply and the things that you will need to get yourself,"

Raven received her designated sheets of A4 paper, held together by a staple in the upper most left hand corner, and noticed she had more sheets. Glancing at the first sheet, she saw the name Matthew Scott written in plain black print, 'Mmm…Matthew…yummy,' the little person in her head said, as Raven shifted in her seat to pass the sheets on to him. Seeing him up close, Raven had to agree.

"Thanks," he replied, and Raven losing herself, almost giggled with delight.

"Now if you all pass these onto your parents or guardians, you can get them to sign the second page, while you can sign the first page yourself, as long as the data there is all up to date. If you've moved, changed you're phone number the school wants to know about it. Plus the options written there are the ones you have chosen. Anything wrong, cross it off and write in the thing that should be in there. I'm hoping to get these all in by tomorrow, so do not forgot them." Miss Orwell said from her position next to Raven.

To this, any traces of a smile faltered from her face and all she could was stare grimly at the sheets of paper. Her heart now pounding painfully against her ribcage, while butterflies danced circles in her stomach. Her hands seemed to move on their own as she slowly crossed off all the information regarding her parents. And signed the first page herself before flipping the page over and beginning to sign the other sheet.

"Oh no dear, that's for your parents to sign," Miss Orwell said placing a hand no Raven's shoulder, to stop her from continuing.

"I guess no one told you," Raven started out in a small voice, "My legal guardians are on a business trip in Japan and I don't have a contact address, so it would be a while yet before I would be able to –" Raven's voice shook accidentally, " – to contact them." She turned her head to look at something other then her desk, but only found the eyes of every other person in the room. She even thought she saw concern flash in Artemis' eyes, but it was gone in a second, 'I'm hallucinating already, why would he care?'

Shaking her head a little, she faced her desk again and this time felt tears prickle behind her eyes, but she forced herself not to cry. Carrying on in a slightly tighter voice she said, "And my parents –" Raven found it hard to form the words to say them, " –…they passed away…almost a month ago…" Looking up Raven saw her teacher's mouth slightly open. "If it's really that important I could send it to my lawyers, they're the ones handling everything. It would be easier to reach them, but they are quite busy, so it's hard to say how soon I could get it back from them too." To Raven's disgust, her last words shook too, so she shut her mouth and stared harder at her desk.

"No, no dear, that's alright. You just sign it, there's no need to bother anyone. I'm sure it will be just fine," Miss Orwell replied.

Raven quickly scanned the sheet of paper, taking nothing in except the price, which the school was covering and found herself thinking that it wasn't that exceptional. Her old school fees where in much the same range. She signed her name in the allocated space and handed back the papers to Miss Orwell, who smiled awkwardly in reply and walked back to her desk.

The class sat in continued silence, watching her. Raven could feel their eyes on her and grew more then a little self-conscious, 'I hate it when people stare like this, what's their problem? Stop looking at me!' Pulling up the sleeves of her jumper to only let her fingers curl over the ends, Raven sunk deeper in her seat.

"What are you lot staring at!" Raven heard glory saying. Glancing out she saw some people mumbling and shift back into the right positions and out of the corner of her eye saw Artemis size her up again, before snorting softly and returning to his own little world. He backhanded the guy next to him in the shoulder who continued to stare. When she blinked though the scene was over and she thought that she was hallucinating again.

"Thank you," Raven said in a stronger voice then before, as she turned to face Glory.

"It was nothing. I'm really sorry for your loss," She replied, with such sincerity, that Raven felt an instant connection with her.

"Alright then," Miss Orwell began again, "With that out of the way. I think it's about time to start some work," The groan that followed only made her laugh, "Not that kind of work," She said and proceeded to explain the activities, she wanted them to do.

,-,

Their introductory games lasted until lunch, when the class joined the masses heading towards the cafeteria. Raven stood behind Glory as they both grabbed trays, and Glory gave a running commentary as they walked down the line, getting their lunches. When they were finished Glory walked down a row of tables ahead of her, and as Raven stood there, the crashing weight of how alone she felt came down on her. She shivered.

"Well are you coming or not?" She heard Glory call out over her shoulder. Raven had to smile as she followed the girl, 'I found friends, guess I dodged that bullet,'

The tables she walked past, were much like the ones back home, but they were broken down into much smaller groups, because the room was far bigger. Raven followed Glory to a table near the centre of the room and saw two other girls sitting there.

"Well if it isn't Glory Adams, long time no see," One of the girls said with a laugh. She had beautiful olive skin and thick black-brown hair, with stunning green eyes.

"Hey who's your friend?" The other said, more quietly then the first. She had pale milky skin, blonde hair and pale blue eyes that watched Raven with a sense of curiosity.

"Sophie Johansson, Anastasia Watson, meet Patricia Grayson," Glory said, flourishing her free hand in Raven's direction.

"Raven meet Sophie," She pointed to the pale girl, "and Anya," She said pointing to the Mediterranean girl, who waved cheerily back. "Sophie here is on a scholarship too,"

"And have been copping it since I got here too," She said softly. Raven frowned uncertainly,

"Should I be worried?"

"No." They replied in unison, "Not with us around," Glory said and slung her arm amiably around Ravens neck, bringing her down slightly and making Raven laugh.

"Oh!" Raven exclaimed and set down her tray, "What's school policy on cell phones?" slowly drawing out her mobile from the pocket of her culottes.

"Considering everyone in school has one, I'd say they're all right about it," Anya said around her spoon.

"Great. I need to make a call. I'll be right back," Raven said and as the others began eating, she walked to the end of their table and dialled Conner's number. Bringing the phone patiently up to her ear, she waited as the phone rang, but the person who answered was definitely not who she expected,

"Hello, Conner Holloway's phone, who's speaking?" The person said in an ordinary voice as if answering other people's phones was what they did regularly. Though that didn't mean that Raven didn't recognised he voice instantly, but her mouth found it oddly difficult to get the words out…

"…Ah…Ed?" She managed to say eventually, and the girl on the other lines breath caught.

"Raven," She croaked out.

"What are you doing with Conner's phone?" She asked, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

"Um…uh…nothing…" The girl carried on weakly, "I'll go get him…" She said abruptly and bought the phone any from her mouth. Yet curiously she heard murmurs in the background, and noticed a lack of movement, which could only mean that Conner was somewhere very close in the vicinity.

"Hey babe," Conner said, but Raven new that today he meant it as a distraction.

"What was Ed doing with your phone?"

"Nothing, I left it in the dining room at breakfast, she was just picking it up when I came back to find it," Raven found it very odd that Conner was lying to her. It was almost always apparent to her when he was, and when he was trying to hide it. He could have almost gotten away with it, if he hadn't lifted his tone near the end of his speech in a way that suggested a question.

Raven found her lips pursing together forming a strict line, and her throat making an "Hmm…" sound. But the better part of her judgement, told her to drop it. Conner wasn't entitled to tell her everything about his life, but that didn't mean she was completely curious about what it was that he wasn't telling her.

"Anyway I just wanted to inform you of my successful reiteration into the institute we call school,"

"Successful huh?" He replied, "How so? New friends?"

"Three of them actually," Raven answered, smiling at the people at her table.

"The Artemis issue?"

"The Artemis issue, is still an issue," She said and pondered the best way to elaborate, when he came striding in the doors of the cafeteria, "Speak of the devil," she murmured angrily, half glaring at him as he made his way through the room. "I guess I deserve it, but I mean he hasn't said three words to me since we got here. If it wasn't for Glory here…let's just say I'd be calling from a bathroom somewhere,"

"What do you mean deserved it?"

"Ah…" Raven started before her mind caught up with her, "…Well I was so busy with packing yesterday…" she continued instead, "…that I left my room to take a breather outside and I left my phone in the room. So if Artemis hadn't bought me it, it would have been a while till I would have called you. So I owe him an apology, I was really quite rude, but he's making it increasingly difficult." Her eyes met with his briefly, and the icy blue of her stare made her shiver.

But they were all saved from further discussion, with the arrival of a messenger. He was of medium height, with mousy hair. The guy seemed to have been running, for her got to their table and made a show of catching his breath. "Please tell me you're Patricia Grayson," he panted.

"I am," Raven said and stepped towards him.

"Oh thank God," he muttered, "I swear I thought she was going to kill me,"

"Who?" Raven asked thoroughly confused.

"There's a lady waiting for you in the main reception building. You should see her, now." He sent her a look which stressed the point.

"Raven, Raven…Raven, Raven…Raven -" A small and distant voice said.

"Shit." She exclaimed as Conner kept repeating her name in various tones of annoyance, "Conner I'm sorry I have to go,"

"I know, I heard everything. We'll continue this conversation later yeah?"

"Of course we will. Bye-bye now Conner, I miss you so much!"

"We all miss you here too babe. Bye for now," He said and hung up. Sighing a little to herself, she put her phone back in her pocket. Facing her new friends again she said,

"I'm sorry to have to cut this short. I am really glad to have met you, I hope we can talk again soon," She said to Sophie and Anya, who nodded enthusiastically, as if they already had something to discuss, "And you I will see in form class again, if I can manage to find my way back," Glory smiled and nodded, so Raven turned back to the messenger and said simply,

"Take me to her,"

,--,--,

Artemis was in a foul mood. 'It's not bad enough that she's completely ungrateful and annoying in every sense of the word, but now I have to sit next to her for the rest of the year!' Artemis growled out loud. He had entered the cafeteria and was in search of his friend. The only one he had ever endeavoured to trust with his secrets. Leo Hunter, was already sitting alone at a table, lazily pushing around something on his tray of food, and looking almost haughtily bored.

Bypassing the line of people getting their lunches, he headed straight for the table near the middle of the cafeteria, when the stare of someone made his head turn. Artemis' deep blue eyes connected with blue-green ones and they narrowed with annoyance. He glared almost maliciously at her before he snapped his eyes away as he found himself near Leo's table.

"I wanna go for a run,"

"Well then run you dolt,"

"You know what I mean,"

"I do, but what did you except of me. No 'Hello, how are you? How were your holidays? It's so good to see you Leo, best friend of friends' -" Leo cut off abruptly, he was looking passed Artemis at something. It wasn't too hard to distract Leo; sometimes he thought he had the attention span of a gnat. But despite himself he turned his head and his eyes found the retreating back of Patricia Grayson.

"She's leaving, lovely,"

"What? You know her and you didn't tell me?" Leo gave a mock shocked face; "I thought it was suspicious when you hit me,"

"Well what did you expect?" Artemis started dryly, "No 'Hello, how are you? How were your holidays? It's so good to see you Artemis, best friend of friends' -" Leo made an unimpressed sort of voice.

"So, what's she like?"

"Trouble," he muttered, "Anyway, I thought you were with Glory?" To this though Leo smirked and examined his fingernails snobbishly,

"Yeah, well, I know she wants me. Bu-t…I'm gonna wait till she comes to me," To this Artemis snorted and sat down just as Leo stood up. "Wait I thought you said you wanted to go for a run?"

"There's no point anymore, the blue haired she-devil is gone and anyway I'm starved. "

,--,--,--,

**A/N:** Do I sense a bit of hostility? I think I do. You'll have to wait till the next chapter to find out how the plot thickens. Should I be so bold as to say that the bad guy is introduced…well in sorts, but it's the best you'll get for a while so enjoy it.

Again I can't push for reviews, because I haven't even started the fourth chapter, so I'm sorry to inform you, it will be another long wait. Anyways, thanks so much for reviewing so far. I hope you enjoy the story and continue reading,

Thanks a bunch for managing to get this far,

Amanda aka The Obsessive Compulsive Hobbit.


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